U.S. President George W. Bush said in interviews published Tuesday ahead of a visit to Israel that the country's peace process with the Palestinians does not depend on embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Police suspect Olmert illictly took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from an American fundraiser. The Israeli leader has said he would resign if indicted.
Politically weakened by the probe, Olmert would be reluctant at this stage to make the sweeping territorial concessions to the Palestinians necessary to clinch any deal with the Palestinians, aides say.
In interviews with the Israeli media conducted Monday at the White House, Bush said his relations with Olmert were "excellent" and called the Israeli leader an "honest guy."
But in an apparent effort to separate the fate of the peace process from Olmert's own, Bush said the negotiations with the Palestinians do not depend on Olmert and singled out Israel's foreign and defense ministers as possible replacements.
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Bush noted that several Palestinian officials are involved in the peace talks, not just Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas also faces political difficulties, chiefly the loss of the Gaza Strip to Islamic militant Hamas rivals last year, which left him governing only the West Bank.
The U.S. president hopes to get Olmert and Abbas to work out a final peace agreement by the end of his term in January. But in an indication that deadline may be too optimistic, Bush just said he hopes "to get something defined" by then.
Olmert himself said last week that the sides may work out only a partial accord by the end of the year. And Abbas, too, has sounded pessimistic about the prospect of striking a deal.
The Bush comments were reported in the Haaretz, Yediot Ahronot and Maariv newspapers.
In response to Olmert's call for the resumption of peace talks with Syria, Bush said he has never told Olmert not to negotiate with Syria, Haaretz said.
If Olmert decides to renew negotiations, Bush said he would like an explanation, the daily reported. But the U.S. president said he understands Israel's considerations on the matter might be different than the United States', Haaretz said.
Bush said he opposes warmer U.S.-Syrian relations at this time until Damascus stops supporting the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah and interfering in Lebanon and Iraq, according to Haaretz.
Bush arrives in Israel on Wednesday for a three-day visit marking Israel's 60th anniversary.
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