By Xinhua
Jerusalem : U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday that he believed a two-state solution to the chronic Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in the best interest of the world, which needs concession on both Israeli and Palestinian sides.
Bush made the remarks in Jerusalem, where he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, after his arrival on Wednesday noon to start visiting Israel, the first leg of his eight-day Middle East trip.
“I fully understand there will be some painful compromises,” Bush told the media during a joint press conference with Olmert.
“There will be stakes and the opportunities … I really want to see two state living side by side,” he added.
Bush also reiterated that although the U.S. had a vital role in assisting the negotiations, “people must understand that America cannot dictate the terms of the (Palestinian) state.”
For his part, Olmert said that both Israelis and Palestinians are “very seriously” trying to move forward to making the vision of a two-state solution a reality.
“Israel is committed to negotiations with PNA (Palestinian National Authority), and to talks on core issues,” the prime minister said, adding that “I am more than willing to make difficult compromises should they lead us to the result we have been dreaming of for so many years.”
For the first time since he took office in 2000, Bush is in Israel and later the Palestinian territories, trying to advance the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in the wake of the U.S.-hosted Annapolis peace conference late November.
Olmert also touched upon the Qassam rocket barrage from the Gaza Strip on southern Israel on Wednesday, highlighting the threat from Palestinian militant groups.
“Gaza is part of a package,” he said. “There will be no peace unless terror is stopped and stopped everywhere.”
Since the Annapolis conference during which Israel and the PNA pledged to strive for a final-status agreement within a year, talks between the two sides have been low-key with no progress evident. The sense of an impasse intensified following contentious meetings regarding continued Israeli settlements construction in East Jerusalem.
Moreover, both Bush and Olmert made it clear that the Iranian threat must be taken serious. Olmert said that he was encouraged by U.S. position on this issue.
Bush affirmed that despite the release of his country’s National Intelligence Estimate report in December, Iran still poses a threat to world peace.
“Iran is a threat and Iran will be a threat if the international community doesn’t come together to prevent it from getting a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Though the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released last month said that Iran halted its nuclear weapon program in 2003, Bush said “the Iranians had a covert military program that was suspended… I interpreted the NIE to mean you should take Iran seriously.”
During the meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Bush said he came here with high hopes that a Middle East peace pact could be achieved before he leaves office in January 2009.
Bush kicked off his Middle East tour on Wednesday and will also visit Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the only nation on the course that he has visited before.