Bush Predicts Completion of Mideast Treaty

This is a charade. There can be no peace without involvement of the democratically elected Hamas government. This is nothing but a ruse intended to bide time until Israel and the Bush thugs start wars with Iran and Hezbollah:

President Bush on Thursday predicted that a Mideast peace treaty would be completed by the time he leaves office. He said he's convinced that both Israeli and Palestinian leaders understand "the importance of democratic states living side by side" in peace.

"I am confident that with proper help, the state of Palestine will emerge." Bush told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "And I'm confident when it emerges, it will be a major step toward peace. I am confident that the status quo is unacceptable, Mr. President, and we want to help you."

Abbas, standing alongside Bush, called on Israel to fulfill its commitments to a Mideast peace plan, and said he hopes "this will be the year for the creation of peace."

Even though it's Bush's first trip to the Palestinian West Bank, it generated little excitement among Palestinians, who are largely skeptical of his promises to try to move along Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The U.S. is perceived in the Palestinian areas as a staunch ally of Israel, at the expense of the Palestinians, but Abbas said Bush's visit "that gives our people great hope," Abbas said.

Bush is on a three-day visit to Israel and the West Bank to show support for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks following seven years of violence.

Bush said he expects both Israelis and Palestinians to "honor their obligations under the roadmap" peace plan, and that Israelis should help the Palestinians modernize their security forces.

"In order for there to be lasting peace, President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert have to come together and make tough choices," Bush said. "And I'm convinced they will. And I believe it's possible — not only possible, I believe it's going to happen — that there be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office (in January 2009). That's what I believe."

The president described the current round of negotiations as an opportunity to move toward a day when there will be two democracies — Israel and a Palestinian state — living alongside one another in peace. "It is in the interest not only of the Palestinians and Israelis but of the world," Bush said.

"We can stay stuck in the past, which will yield nothing good for the Palestinians in my judgment," he said. "We can chart a hopeful future."

Bush's travels through the Mideast does not include a stop in Gaza, which is controlled by the militant group Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group. The split in Palestinian governance — with Hamas controlling the Gaza Strip and Abbas controlling the West Bank — has divided the Palestinian people.