By Stan Goodenough
Mar 17, 2008
US President George W. Bush would very much like to be in Israel to commemorate the reborn Jewish state's 60th Anniversary this May.
There's just one small proviso: Israel must make some serious progress in implementing its commitments to the Palestinian Arabs under the 'Road Map' before the American leader will agree to come.
This incidence of political blackmail was revealed Monday in a report posted on the Jerusalem-based website Israel Today.
According to the report, Israeli officials believe Washington is gearing up to put "enormous diplomatic pressure" on Israel.
Bush is "adamant" that something concrete be achieved on the ground before he comes here again, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is planning a trip to the region next week "to that end," reports the website.
Other world leaders visiting or planning to visit Israel this week include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Vice President Dick Cheney, US Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In one way or another they are all expected to try and push Israel further down the dead-end road of 'land-for-peace.'
Meanwhile, while touring Jerusalem's orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood Monday, US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones chided the Olmert government for not beginning to keep its undertakings under the Road Map.
"Israel has commitments and it is important that they begin honoring those commitments," he said, adding: "I am optimistic there is a desire on the part of both leaders, of both governments, to work according to the division [of the land] that President Bush has laid out."