President Bush arrives in Israel

US President George Bush arrived in Israel this morning at 11.30 am local time. The President was greeted at Ben-Gurion airport by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President Shimon Peres, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and other senior officials and dignitaries. In the course of the day, President Bush will meet with President Peres, PM Olmert, Defence Minister Barak and Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni. A key intention of the Bush visit is to support and help facilitate the renewed peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority launched at the recent Annapolis conference. In addition, the President's visit to the region, which will take him to a number of other Middle Eastern countries - including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States - is likely also to focus on continuing international concerns at the Iranian nuclear program.

Analysts in Israel are skeptical regarding the chance for the Bush visit to herald a general breakthrough in the process between Israelis and Palestinians. While PM Olmert and PA Chairman Abbas reached agreement yesterday on the framework for discussions of final status issues, it remains the prevailing opinion among Israeli analysts that the weakness of Abbas's leadership position both in his own Fatah movement and among the Palestinian population of the West Bank, the continued domination of Gaza by Hamas, and the fragile state of PM Olmert's own coalition remain major obstacles to real progress. The right wing Yisrael Beiteinu party has vowed to leave the coalition if the division of Jerusalem comes up for discussion and the Ultra-Orthodox Shas list has made a similar vow.

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