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Bush announces Middle East visit Bush announces Middle East visit
(about 2 hours later)
US President George W Bush will visit the Middle East in January, the White House has said.US President George W Bush will visit the Middle East in January, the White House has said.
The announcement comes a week after Mr Bush hosted talks at which Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged to seek a peace deal before the end of 2008.The announcement comes a week after Mr Bush hosted talks at which Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged to seek a peace deal before the end of 2008.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas held a meeting at the White House. Iran will also be a key issue, after US intelligence said on Monday that the country is not actively developing nuclear weapons.
Washington did not confirm Israeli reports that President Bush would include that country in his itinerary. Mr Bush said Iran remained dangerous and could restart a bomb programme.
Such a visit would be Mr Bush's first to Israel as US president. Israeli fears
The Annapolis conference last Tuesday brought together 44 countries and led to an agreement to hold the first Israeli-Palestinian peace talks for seven years. The White House did not confirm Israeli reports that the president would visit Israel during his Middle East tour.
"We will use our power to help you as you come up with the necessary decisions to lay out a Palestinian state that will live side-by-side in peace with Israel," Mr Bush said at the White House, when he welcomed the two leaders there a day after the Annapolis meeting. But the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says such a visit is highly likely.
Iran nuclear game goes onUS report cools crisis
It would be Mr Bush's first to Israel as US president.
And, our correspondent adds, any visit there would take on a particular significance in the wake of the US intelligence community's change of heart on Iran.
The National Intelligence Estimate said with "high confidence" that it believed Iran had halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, but that it was continuing to enrich uranium.
Responding to the new assessment, the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, said he believed Iran posed a threat to the entire world, which must be prepared to deal with this threat and foil it.
Annapolis hopes
Mr Bush hosted the Annapolis conference last week, bringing together 44 countries and leading to an agreement to hold the first Israeli-Palestinian peace talks for seven years.
Israeli and Palestinian teams will meet for their first discussions on 12 December, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will continue one-to-one meetings with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas next year.
KEY ISSUES JerusalemWaterRefugeesBorders and settlementsHistory of failed talks
"We will use our power to help you as you come up with the necessary decisions to lay out a Palestinian state that will live side by side in peace with Israel," Mr Bush said at the White House, when he welcomed the two leaders there a day after the Annapolis meeting.
However, a number of difficult issues would need to be resolved, including the status of Jerusalem, delineation of borders and the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
On Tuesday Israel announced plans to build more than 300 new houses in a disputed neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, prompting Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to urge US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene.
"This is undermining Annapolis," said Mr Erekat.
Another complicating factor is the Hamas faction, which controls the Gaza Strip. Bitter rivals of Mr Abbas's Fatah faction, Hamas leaders have dismissed the process begun in Annapolis, saying it will not achieve the state the Palestinians want.