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Biden calls on Bush to go to Israel |
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By Ian Swanson
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Posted: 11/27/07 10:38 AM [ET] |
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) has called on President Bush to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories as a way to provide the sustained leadership necessary to make progress toward a Middle East peace settlement.
Biden, a long-shot Democratic presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the comments in a statement released on the eve of a Middle East peace conference that began Tuesday in Annapolis.
“It is not enough to hold a conference or give a speech and then drop the issue for months on end,” Biden said. “The peace process requires day-in, day-out engagement, starting with the president.”
He noted that Bush has not visited Israel during his more than six years in office. If he makes his first trip to that country and the Palestinian territories, said Biden, “he can play a more informed and active role in pushing the process forward.”
Officials from Israel and 12 Arab nations, along with representatives from the Palestinian Authority, will attend the conference. Organized by the administration, the meeting reflects Bush’s attempts to make progress toward a Middle East peace deal a big part of his final year in office.
In remarks prepared for an address Tuesday at the Naval Academy that were released in advance by the White House, Bush said there is a battle under way for the future of the Middle East. He said the meeting was not intended to conclude an agreement, but to “launch negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. For the rest of us, our job is to encourage the parties in this effort — and to give them the support they need to succeed.”
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