MIDDLE EAST: US President Bush brings his "road map" for peace to the Middle East today, meeting with Arab leaders at the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Siona Jenkins reports from Cairo
The President will be hoping to get a strong Arab endorsement of his efforts to revive the moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process before going on to Jordan for a three-way summit with the Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers tomorrow.
Speaking to reporters before leaving the Group of Eight economic summit in Évian, France, yesterday, he acknowledged that getting the Palestinians and Israelis to end their conflict was not easy. "I fully understand this is going to be a difficult process," Mr Bush said.
"My expectations in the Middle East are to call all the respective parties to their responsibilities to achieve peace, and to make it very clear that my country and I will put in as much time as necessary to achieve the vision of the two states living side by side in peace."
The Sharm el-Sheikh talks are likely to be heavier on symbolism than on substance. In addition to the road map, which envisages the establishment of an independent Palestinian state by 2005, the leaders will discuss Iraq, fighting terrorism and economic issues - all, according to diplomatic sources, in a session scheduled to last under two hours.
Moreover, the leaders President Bush will meet - Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah, Jordanian King Abdullah and Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa - are all moderates who have already voiced support for the peace plan. But the fact that Mr Bush has come to deliver his message personally is designed to show that he means business.
According to officials he will ask the Arab leaders to give their views on how to implement the road map. They will also be asked to denounce all forms terrorism and to help cut off financial support for Palestinian militant groups.
With their own Islamist militant movements trying to topple them from power, most of the leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh are hardly sympathetic to the methods of suicide bombers, particularly when they provide inspiration to many of their own citizens.
In an effort to curtail their attacks, Egypt invited the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to ceasefire talks last year. The US is hoping that financial leverage from Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia will prove a more successful strategy.
But while Mr Bush is likely to get a positive response in Sharm el-Sheikh, the Arab leaders will face a far tougher challenge selling the road map and other American plans for the region to their respective publics.
Anti-American sentiment is at an all-time high in the Arab world. The war on Iraq was vehemently opposed by most ordinary Arabs, and its swift conclusion was considered a humiliation. The US is widely seen as Israel's protector, allowing its ally to violate Palestinian rights for domestic political purposes. Few believe that it will guarantee a just peace for the Palestinians.
Suspicion of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon runs even deeper. Most Arabs remember him as the military leader who presided over the war in Lebanon and the massacre of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila in 1982.
Mr Sharon's apparent unconditional acceptance of the road map, and his recent use of the word "occupation" to describe Israel's presence on Palestinian land are widely seen as little more than a ploy.
"Many will fall into the illusion that the US administration will take on its responsibilities and give new impetus to the road map ... promised by the US president a year ago," wrote Egyptian columnist Salama Ahmed Salama in the semi-official Al-Ahram newspaper.
"The road map will not move if Sharon empties it of its meaning and if the United States helps it in this direction, under the pressure of time and US elections."