WASHINGTON — President Bush will visit the Mideast next month, the White House said Tuesday, presumably in an effort to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
White House officials declined to provide additional details, but Israeli media, quoting unidentified Israeli government sources, reported that Bush would visit Israel and the Palestinian territories.
A visit to Israel would be Bush’s first as president.
Last week, he presided over a conference in Annapolis, Md., that gave an international blessing to the new peace effort and said he would do all he can to encourage progress on the issue.
Only last week, though, Bush played down the idea that he might visit the Mideast to push negotiations forward.
“Going to a region is not going to unstick negotiations,” he said in an interview with CNN.
“This idea that somehow you are supposed to travel and therefore good things are going to happen is just not realistic.”
The president’s engagement in the peace effort has become a subject of keen interest.
The Palestinians, along with many Arab and European countries, want the United States to play an active role in peace talks.
But many Israelis are worried that close American involvement could mean pressure on Israel to make compromises it is not ready to make.
