Bush's first presidential visits to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank were filled with intensive peace negotiations, including talks with Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Before leaving Israel on the way to Kuwait, the U.S. president said he was satisfied with the progress of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed at the U.S.-hosted Middle East conference in November and said the sides could conclude a peace deal leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of 2008.
At the same time, Bush said that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal would require "painful political concessions" from both sides and a commitment to the so called road map, first outlined in 2002.
Talks between Israelis and Palestinians have been stalled for almost seven years, with no progress made so far on key issues such as the borders established before the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem, the plight of Palestinian refugees, and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The Palestinians insist that all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, seized by Israel in the 1967 war, should be theirs. Israel wants to keep parts of east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
During his visit, Bush called for an end to the Israeli "occupation" of Palestinian lands and a resolution for Jerusalem's status and urged President Mahmoud Abbas to curb terrorist and rocket attacks on Israel by Islamists.
He highlighted Hamas, the radical Palestinian group that seized control of the Gaza Strip in summer, as a major hindrance to the peace process.
His talks with Israeli officials also focused on the Iranian nuclear program. Bush said that until Tehran stopped uranium enrichment, the Islamic Republic remained a "threat to
world peace."
Before continuing his Mideast tour with stops in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to secure Arab support of his peace effort, Bush promised to return to Israel in May to attend the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary and boost the Mideast peace process.
