Bush: Battle Under Way For Future Of Middle East*

Nov 27 08:57 PM US/Eastern
By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush expressed concern Tuesday about the
risk of failure in the first major Mideast peace talks in seven years,
warning that could spawn a generation of radicals and extremists. Still,
he said, "It is worth it to try."

Bush cautioned it would take time for Israelis and Palestinians to reach
an agreement. The goal is to reach an accord within 14 months by the end
of Bush's presidency.

"I don't think it's a risk to try for peace," the president said in an
Oval Office interview with reporters from The Associated Press. "I think
that's an obligation."

While Bush has been criticized for standing back from Mideast
peacemaking for most of his presidency, he described himself as "very
engaged, up to the moment" in bringing Israel, the Palestinians and more
than 40 countries together for a conference in Annapolis, Md., to launch
the first major peacemaking effort in seven years. The last significant
attempt at Mideast peacemaking was at the end of the Clinton
administration in 2000. Its failure was followed by a Palestinian
uprising and violence.

He pronounced the Annapolis gathering a "successful
conference"—primarily because of the international participation that he
said he had worked very hard personally to make a reality. "A moment
like today just doesn't happen. It requires work to lay the groundwork
for," Bush said.

His goal was to put Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas in a better position to make concessions, when
they face enormous pressure from domestic factions.

"They're going to have to make tough choices," the president said. "And
what they're going to need is they're going to need the
international—particularly the neighborhood—saying it's OK."

While Olmert and Abbas are politically weak, Bush said, "Generally, if a
leader is able to promote peace, genuine peace, it will help their
standing with the people."

"The danger is for the Palestinians that unless there's a vision
described, that people can aspire to and hope for, it is conceivable
that we could lose an entire generation—or a lot of a generation—to
radicals and extremists," Bush said.

"There has to be something more positive ... than which is on the
horizon today," the president said.

 From here on, Bush described his role in the peace process this way: "I
work the phones, I listen, I encourage, I have meetings. I do a lot of
things."

He wouldn't say either way whether he thought he would eventually travel
to Israel or the Palestinian territories to help move things along.
"We'll see. You don't have to be in a particular country to have
influence over whether or not the process moves forward. But I'd like to
go Israel. I'd like to go to Saudi Arabia," Bush said.

On other issues Bush said:

_Vice President Dick Cheney is "in good shape" despite a history of
heart problems, including an episode of atrial fibrillation Monday that
was corrected when doctors administered an electric shock to restore his
normal heartbeat. "My dad had the same issue with his heart, and jumped
out of an airplane at age 83."

_He hopes that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf honors his pledge to
take off his uniform and shed his role as head of the army, as Musharraf
promised he will do on Wednesday. "He ought to lift the emergency law"
as well, Bush said. "It's hard for me to envision a free and fair
election under emergency law."

Bush said he was comfortable that Musharraf has done what is needed to
protect Pakistan's nuclear arms from falling into the hands of extremists.

The president spoke cautiously about Nawaz Sharif, the former prime
minister Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, who returned to Pakistan on
Sunday from exile. "I don't know him well enough," Bush said. Sharif has
good relations with Pakistan's religious parties and has raised doubts
about his commitment to battling the Taliban and al-Qaida. "I would be
very concerned if there was any leader in Pakistan that didn't
understand the nature of the world in which we live today," Bush added.

_Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons would be "a major threat to
peace." Bush dismissed concerns raised when he spoke recently about the
prospects for World War III if Iran obtained nuclear weapons. "I think
this `march to war' claim is pretty well created by, you know,
punditry," he said.

Bush said expectations of whether the Annapolis conference is a success
or failure will be set over time, because "The negotiations between
Israel and Palestine aren't going to occur in one week."

"Obviously, I am concerned about the consequences of a failed
conference—or a failed process in this case. It's not just a conference;
it's a failed process. On the other hand, it is worth it to try, because
the Middle East needs to have the liberty agenda prevail."

Bush said a vision of the outlines of a Palestinian state would help
settle the divide between Abbas' Fatah Party and the militant Hamas
movement that governs the Gaza Strip.

"One of the powers of having a state defined is that it'll serve as a
catalyst to marginalize extremists who have no vision; at least they
don't have a positive vision," he said. "What you're watching is the
development of a state which becomes something that people like Abbas
and reasonable moderate people can say, `Support us and this is what
you'll end up having; support the other bunch and you'll have war.'"

He said there was little possibility of a state, though, if the
Palestinian territories remain divided between governance by Fatah and
Hamas.

"There can be a vision for what a Palestinian state would look like,"
Bush said. "But it's going to be very difficult for that Palestinian
state to come into being so long as there are terrorists who are able to
exploit a weak government and launch attacks against their neighbors."

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