By Yu Zhongwen, Xinhua,
Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt : U.S. President George W. Bush wrapped up his five-day visit to the Middle East on Sunday, insisting that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is possible within the year but requires “sacrifices”, which, does not sell well among Arab leaders and local analysts.
During his stay in the region which took him to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Bush hold a series of talks with regional leaders in a bid to push forward the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which, however, scored no visible progress to date.
“I firmly believe that with leadership and courage, we can reach that peace agreement this year. This is a demanding task, and it requires action on all sides,” Bush said at his special address at the opening session of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East on Sunday here.
“Palestinians must fight terror and continue to build the institutions of a free and peaceful society. Israel must make tough sacrifices for peace and ease restrictions on Palestinians.”
However, He did not suggest concrete steps to resolve the issues that keep a peace agreement from being formed. Analysts said its very difficult to reach major breakthroughs on the core issues such as the final status of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and Palestinian refugees.
A ceasefire deal being brokered by Egypt between Israel and the Palestinian factions, including Hamas in Gaza is still inconclusive.
Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) resumed peace talks in November 2007 following a U.S.-hosted conference held in Annapolis. Now that almost half a year has passed, no significant progress has been achieved in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Analysts and Arab leaders are pessimistic about a peace deal by year end. Dr. Khadija Elafa, a political analyst in Cairo, said “I don’t think Israel and the Palestinians can reach a peace deal at the end of this year” or before the end of Bush’s term in early 2009.
Earlier this month, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa also expressed pessimism on a peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel before the end of 2008.
There were no indications that an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty could be concluded by the end of 2008 as promised by the U.S. administration, Moussa was quoted as saying in an interview with the Egyptian state MENA news agency.
Even U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, part of Bush’s entourage, said on last Tuesday that reaching such a deal within the next eight months might be “improbable”, though not impossible.
Bush’s visit, which came on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel, was also criticized by Arabs. Dr. Elafa said that Bush’s visit came at “a very bad time for all Palestinians and for all Arabs.”
In 1948, the Jews drove out the Palestinians to the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and established a state. Every year, when Israel celebrates its anniversary, the Palestinians mark their catastrophe.
Bush’s outspoken support for Israel, in contrast to his scarce mentioning of the plights of the Palestinians during his stay in Israel, also draw widespread protests in the Palestinian territories and criticism from the Arab world.
According to an earlier report of MENA, Speaker of the Interim Arab Parliament (IAP) Mohammad Jassem al-Saqr criticized Bush’s visit to Israel on the occasion of Nakba (catastrophe).
He said the visit was sending wrong signals, noting it meant that the United States is consenting to Israeli practices against the Palestinians which run counter to the international legitimacy resolutions.
Bush’s visit also came at the time when Egypt is exerting efforts on reaching a ceasefire deal between Israel and various Palestinian groups.
As for the current indirect talks between Israel and various Palestinian groups with the mediation of Egypt, Elafa said the major difficulty for the talks is that Israel doesn’t care about the rights of the Palestinians.
On May 12, Egyptian intelligence chief Omer Suleiman held talks in Tel Aviv with Israeli leaders on a proposal to reach a six-month truce in the Gaza Strip first.
Hamas has expressed readiness to halt all kinds of attacks against Israel in exchange for opening the border crossings and stopping all Israeli military operations and targeted killing against militants in the Gaza Strip.
Israel, however, insisted that any truce deal should include the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by three militant groups led by Hamas, in the summer of 2006 near an Israeli army base southeast Gaza Strip.
Despite Egypt’s efforts to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza militants, fresh violence between Israeli troops and Palestinians militants continued.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said last Thursday Israel would be able to obliterate rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in the near future, which cast shadows on Bush’s efforts on Mideast peace.
Elafa said “If Israel doesn’t change its current practices against the Palestinians, there is no hope for the two sides to reach a truce.”