WASHINGTON — President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bade each other farewell Monday, expressing confidence in an eventual Mideast peace deal that won’t materialize on either of their watches.
Bush and Olmert met for more than an hour at the White House as their time in office winds to a close. Bush’s two terms end Jan. 20. Olmert plans to resign amid corruption charges and will step down after a successor is chosen Feb. 10.
Bush, speaking to reporters before their talks in the Oval Office, said Olmert kept his word — “and in international politics, that’s important.”
Olmert said history will owe Bush a debt of gratitude for setting the region on the path to an accord.
“A two-state solution is the only possible way to resolve the conflict in the Middle East,” Olmert said.
Just a year ago, at a summit Bush hosted in Annapolis, Md., Olmert and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, resumed peace talks after a seven-year standstill. The three set an ambitious target to have a final peace deal by the end of 2008.
But despite a lot of talk, Bush’s two trips to the region and eight more by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, all have acknowledged that the year-end target will not be met.
Bush administration officials say some progress has been made.
“We’re much farther along the road than we otherwise would have been” without the Annapolis meeting, White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said Monday. “And I think we’re much farther down the road than most people give the Palestinians and the Israelis credit for.”
