US President George W. Bush began meeting Arab leaders in the Middle East yesterday to launch the most ambitious US peace mission to the region for more than two years.
Amid tight security, Bush met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ahead of a US-Arab summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The summit was due to be joined by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Jordan's King Abdullah, Bahrain's King Hamad and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, making his debut on the international stage.
Bush, meeting the new Palestinian prime minister for the first time, was seeking support for the Middle East peace "road map," drawn up by the US, the UN, the EU and Russia.
The road map, the most far-reaching Middle East peace plan of Bush's two-and-a-half years in office, outlines a series of reciprocal steps by Palestinians and Israelis leading to the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
"The president will sit down for face-to-face meetings with Arab leaders to talk to them about how together we can move the process. He'll emphasize that all parties have responsibilities in this regard," said Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US National Security Council.
Today, Bush is to hold a landmark summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba. The US president had refused to meet veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, took office as the first prime minister in late April.
Bush comes to the peace process after waging a war against Iraq that inflamed anti-American passions in the Arab world.
At a summit of the G8 countries in France before arriving in Egypt, Bush said Middle East peace would be a difficult undertaking but predicted progress.
In his comments on Monday, he also said that during his Middle East tour he would "make it clear that my country, and I, will put in as much time as necessary to achieve the vision of two states living side-by-side in peace."
The US and Egyptian leaders are due to read statements after the summit meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, where security guards lined the roads.
US officials hope the Arab statement will be one of support for Abbas, who has vowed to crack down on violence but has the difficult task of reining in extremists committed to the destruction of Israel.
Arab leaders are expected to urge the US to use its muscle on Israel, which Arabs fear could undermine the road map because Sharon only endorsed the plan after Washington said it would address his concerns.
"What is required is a firm commitment, implementation and monitoring of the implementation [of the road map] and this is what we hope will come out from the meetings that will take place here," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said on Monday as leaders arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh.
US hopes for progress have been buoyed by word that Sharon will announce plans to uproot some rogue Jewish settler outposts at his summit in Aqaba.
Israel's readiness to begin removing West Bank outposts, coming on the heels of promises from Abbas to rein in militant violence, could help smooth the way for the Aqaba summit.
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