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Bush starts ME tour, sees new chance for peace

Holds talks with Peres

AFP, Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv
US President George W Bush said he saw a new chance for Middle East peace as he arrived in Israel yesterday at the start of a landmark regional tour marked by escalating tensions with Iran.
Amid tight security, Bush flew in for his first presidential visit to Israel, seeking a foreign policy triumph in his last year in office by forging a Middle East peace deal.
Israel rolled out a full red carpet ceremony, with dozens of dignitar- ies welcoming the leader of its closest ally on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv when Air Force One touched down.
"We see a new opportunity for peace here in the Holy Land and for freedom across the region," declared Bush, who has pledged to advance peace talks with a view to creating a Palestinian state before his term ends in January 2009.
Negotiations were relaunched amid great fanfare at a US conference six weeks ago but have since
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faltered amid mounting violence between Israel and Gaza militants and Jewish setdement aedvity on occupied Palestinian land.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, a Nobel peace laureate, said 2008 would be a "moment of truth" but said "stopping the madness of Iran, I lezbollah and Hamas" was key in advancing peacemaking.
"We take your advice to not underestimate the Iranian threat Iran should not underestimate our resolve for self defence," said Peres.
Bush has taken aim at Iran after a confrontation between Iranian vessels and US warships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz that has further enflamed tensions already high over Tehran's nuclear programme.
"We viewed it as a provocative act. It is a dangerous situation and they should not have done it, pure and simple," Bush declared on Tuesday.
The Pentagon released a video and audiotape that appeared to confirm its charge that Iranian speedboats swarmed around three US warships and radioed a threat to blow them up. Iran retorted that it was fabricated footage.
"And it's a warning to them: They've got to be very careful about this, because if it happens again, they are going to bear the consequences of that incident," US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley told reporters travelling with Bush.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hailed Bush as Israel's "strongest and most trusted ally in the battle against terrorism," and said the bond between their two nations was "unshakeable."
Israeli and Palestinian authorities have set up a massive security operation amid threats of violence, including a call by US member of al-Qaeda who urged followers to greet Bush with "bombs not flowers."
On the first presidential visit to Israel in nine years, Bush is to hold talks with Olmert and Peres on Wednesday and head to Ramallah to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas onThursday.
Bush said in Washington he hoped to have "outlines of a state clearly defined, so that at some point in time, the Palestinians who agree that Israel ought to exist and agree that a state ought to live side by side with Israel in peace, have something to befor."
At the airport ceremony, Bush said the alliance between Washington and Israel "helps guarantee Israel's security as a Jewish
state," sparking ire from the Islamist Hamas group that has ruled the Gaza Strip for nearly seven months
The comments "betray the true objectives of Bush, who has come to the region to offer political support to the occupier... without taking into account the interests of our people," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.
On the eve of Bush's visit, Olmert and Abbas agreed to start negotia tions on key issues at the heart of their conflict - borders, Jewish settlements, Jerusalem and refugees -- at a meeting aimed at revitalising the hobbled talks.
But violence continued to simmer, with Israeli troops killing a Gaza militant and gunmen launching 11 rockets and mortar shells into Israel wi thout causing injuries.