The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

US President George W. Bush will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt May 13-18 but has no plans for a joint peace summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the White House said Monday.

Bush, who seeks a Middle East peace deal by year's end, will meet in Israel with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and address the Knesset, Israel's parliament, said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

The US president, who has been pushing Israel and the Palestinians to agree on the outlines of a future Palestinian state, will then travel to Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah. In Egypt, Bush will meet with President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, and deliver remarks at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, said Perino. With peace talks stalled and violence flaring up, "we're under no illusions that things are going to happen immediately," the spokeswoman told reporters.

"Things are very dynamic and fluid and we hope that they continue to push in the right direction. But we're going to have to push them faster than they've been going," she said.

"There's a lot of deep-seated history that has to be addressed if they're going to define a state by the end of the year. And we know how much hard work there is to be done, and that's one of the reasons that the president is going back to the region," she said.