Bush Middle East Trip 2
Expectations for President Bush's Middle East trip are not high, at least in Israel where he will meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Tomorrow he meets with Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. 
Repeated in welcoming ceremonies was Bush's 2002 statement, "My vision is of two states living side by side in peace and security." If a settlement is to come, whether this year or later, it will have to be along these lines. Palestinians make up twenty percent of Israel's present population.Were a solution to the Palestinian issue be rolled into Israel proper it would only be a matter of time before Palestinians became a dominant majority. This will not be acceptable to Israel.
It is likely that Bush's legacy in the Middle East will be defined more by Iraq and Afghanistan rather than a settlement between Israel and Palestine.
Repeated in welcoming ceremonies was Bush's 2002 statement, "My vision is of two states living side by side in peace and security." If a settlement is to come, whether this year or later, it will have to be along these lines. Palestinians make up twenty percent of Israel's present population.Were a solution to the Palestinian issue be rolled into Israel proper it would only be a matter of time before Palestinians became a dominant majority. This will not be acceptable to Israel.
It is likely that Bush's legacy in the Middle East will be defined more by Iraq and Afghanistan rather than a settlement between Israel and Palestine.
