Bush: Middle East Peace Can’t Be Imposed

U.S. President George Bush said Wednesday establishing a Palestinian state and peace in the Middle East is up to Israelis, Palestinians and their neighbors.

Speaking at a White House news conference, Bush said his role in hosting a peace conference in Annapolis, Md., later this year was only as a facilitator.

The United States can’t impose peace, Bush said. In order for there to be a Palestinian state, it’s going to require the Israelis and the Palestinians coming to an accord. We can facilitate that, but we can’t … force people to make hard decisions. They’re going to have to do that themselves.

Bush said he was encouraged by the amount of dialogue between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and that he hoped the upcoming conference would see more pan-Arab participation.

Part of the issue in the past has been … that the Arab nations sit on the sidelines, the president said. And when a state was in reach, they weren’t a part of the process, encouraging the parties to move forward.