The White House announced on Tuesday that President Bush would visit Israel next month in order to try to advance peace efforts started during the Annapolis talks.
President Bush has made multiple trips to the MidEast but all his recent trips have been to Arab countries. He has visited Jordan twice since taking office.
This will be his first trip to Israel since assuming the Presidency. He visited it while Governor of Texas in 1998. During that visit, Ariel Sharon took him on a tour of the West Bank but he didn’t meet with any Palestinian officials. This time he will presumably meet with both Israelis and Palestinians and encourage them forward in their current efforts to find a common basis for peace.
It is not known if he will visit any other place in the MidEast but that may be possible. I am sure he will be tempted to hop over to Iraq and talk to the troops who are doing such a magnificent job there.
