The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that he was still "optimistic" about winning a Middle East peace deal before he leaves office in January, but urged Israelis and Palestinians to do more. "Ten months is a long time. May seem short to you, but there's plenty of time to get a deal done," Bush told reporters as he discussed the sputtering peace process with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House. "This is a process that, you know, always has two steps forward and one step back. We've just got to make sure that it's only one step back," Bush declared as talks foundered amid a wave of deadly violence in Gaza and rocket attacks on Israel. "I'm optimistic -- still as optimistic as I was after Annapolis," he added, referring to the US-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November 2007, that thawed negotiations after a seven-year chill.