.bmp)
.bmp)
JERUSALEM-Visiting US President George W. Bush on Wednesday hailed Israel as a democracy challenged by "terrorists" just before a rocket slammed into a shopping mall in the south of the country."It is also an interesting time because here we are in the heart of a thriving democracy, yet that democracy, like other democracies, is being challenged by extremists and terrorists," Bush said after talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Shortly afterward, a rocket fired by militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip slammed into a crowded shopping mall in southern Israel and wounded at least 14 people, medics said.Two babies were among those hurt, while a young girl and her mother were seriously wounded, Israeli emergency services said."We condemn this terrorist attack by Hamas and offer our condolences to those who were affected," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said."Political goals will never be achieved by launching rockets from Gaza onto innocent women and children. President Bush is proud to be in Israel and will stand with those who want to see two states, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace," he said.Bush's three-day visit, anchored on Israel's 60th anniversary, comes at a time of renewed turmoil in the region, which bodes ill for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that have made little tangible progress since they were revived at a conference he hosted in November.Israel and Palestinian militants have talked separately to Egyptian mediators about a possible truce, but Hamas rejected Israel's demand that it first release an Israeli soldier captured by the Islamists two years ago."Hamas' objective, stated objective, is the destruction of the state of Israel. We'll stand strongly with Israel as well as stand strongly with the Palestinians who don't share their vision," Bush told reporters.Olmert stressed that Israel holds Hamas responsible for any attack launched from Gaza, saying "we hope that we will not have to act against Hamas with the military power that Israel has in its pocket."Bush also lashed out at Iran, which backs Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, and reaffirmed support for Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, whose country has been rocked over the past week by deadly sectarian fighting.
"Hezbollah is supported by Iran and this is an Iranian effort to destabilise that young democracy and the United States stands strongly with the Siniora government," Bush told Olmert.Bush, who has voiced hope a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians will be achieved by the time he leaves office in January, also expressed strong backing for Israel. He told President Shimon Peres the United States must support its "strongest ally and friend in the Middle East, the only true democracy, against the forces of terror."The US president will also visit Saudi Arabia to mark 75 years of US relations with the oil-rich kingdom, and hold talks in Egypt with regional leaders, including Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.The visit to Israel is Bush's second since January-after seven years in which he did not set foot there or in the Palestinian territories.He was due to address Israel's parliament on Thursday, when Palestinians commemorate the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who lost their homes and their land when the Jewish state was created in May 1948.Bush's national security advisor Stephen Hadley called Israel's 60th birthday "a great event" but added: "We also recognize that that event resulted in hardship for many Palestinian people."He said Bush was determined to "redeem that hardship" by helping to create a Palestinian state, "a homeland for the Palestinian people in the same way that Israel 60 years ago became the homeland for the Jewish people."The US president hopes a peace deal will shore up his legacy and has expressed confidence an agreement could be reached in the eight months left in his term despite the lack of any tangible progress in negotiations.But Palestinians are concerned that corruption allegations against Olmert could make Israel take a harder line regarding settlement building, lead to military escalation and further stall any peace talks.Since Olmert and Abbas relaunched the peace process in November the talks have been hobbled by Israel's continuing expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories and by escalating violence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.Four Palestinians were killed in Israeli military operations in Gaza on Wednesday morning, several hours before the rockets fired by militants in the besieged Palestinian territory hit the Ashkelon mall.
As in the days of Noah....
