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Bush Turns Up Heat On Both Sides As Mideast Visit Begins

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By MICHAEL ABRAMOWITZ, The Washington Post

Published: January 10, 2008

JERUSALEM - President Bush, on the first visit here of his administration, demanded Wednesday that Israelis shut down unauthorized settler outposts on Palestinian territory, called on Palestinian authorities to take steps to halt rocket attacks against Israel, and issued a sharp warning to Iran.

Even as he insisted he had not come to the region to impose the terms of a peace agreement on Israelis and Palestinians, Bush spent part of the first day of an eight-day trip to the Middle East issuing edicts to the parties - or, in his words, nudging them toward an accord that he hopes will lead eventually to the creation of a Palestinian state and lasting Arab-Israeli peace.

"The only way to have lasting peace, the only way for an agreement to mean anything, is for the two parties to come together and make the difficult choices," Bush said at a news conference with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "But we'll help, and we want to help. If it looks like there needs to be a little pressure, Mr. Prime Minister, you know me well enough to know I'll be more than willing to provide it."

Bush is on his first extended tour of a region that has figured prominently in the foreign policy challenges confronting his administration. Accused of years of disengagement from Middle East peacemaking, he is making a last-ditch try for an Israeli-Palestinian accord.

Bush's visit is being watched closely in the region - the arrival ceremony in Tel Aviv was shown live on Israeli television - and security is tight. In Bush's talks with Olmert and other Israeli officials, Iran's rising regional influence and nuclear ambitions were key concerns.

While Israeli officials have made little secret of their skepticism about a U.S. intelligence report concluding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, Olmert professed himself pleased with Bush's assurances that he still took the threat seriously - though he did not specify the nature of the assurances.

"I certainly am encouraged and reinforced, having heard the position of the United States under the leadership of George Bush, particularly on this subject," said Olmert, who seemed to embarrass Bush a bit with his lavish praise of the president's support and "courage."

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