U.S. President George W. Bush will visit the Middle East in
January to press the Israelis and Palestinians to restart installed
peace talks, the White House said on Tuesday.
"The president will go to the Mideast region in early January,"
said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National
Security Council.
But the spokesman did not give details on Bush's visit.
The move came one week after the United States hosted a Mideast
peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland on Nov. 27, in which Bush
announced that Palestinian and Israeli leaders reached an agreement
on the framework for future negotiations at the international
gathering.
Nearly 50 countries and international organizations attended the
Middle East peace conference, the largest since the Bush
administration took office in 2000.
However, analysts have expressed pessimism over the prospect of
the peace conference as the Israelis and Palestinians fail to
narrow their differences.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2007)
