President Bush arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel this morning for a two-day visit marking Israel's 60th anniversary as a nation. The president was welcomed at the airport by Israeli president Shimon Peres. While in the Middle East, the president will meet with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to continue his push for a comprehensive peace agreement before he leaves office. He will also meet with Arab allies n Saudi Arabia, and make a stop at Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt for talks with Egypt's, Jordan's, Lebanon's, and Afghanistan's leaders.

The president began his visit with high praise for Israel and the close friendship the two countries have always shared.

"We consider the Holy Land a very special place, and we consider the Israeli people our close friends

Our two nations both faced great challenges when they were founded. And our two nations have both relied on the same principles to help us succeed. We built strong democracies to protect the freedoms given to us by an almighty God. [...] and we built an enduring alliance to confront terrorists and tyrants."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returned the compliments, saying, "America has been there at each and every important crossroad in the life of our young country and stood by us in times of hope and moments of crisis."

Bush is the first U.S. President to call for an independent Palestinian state, and his advisers said that he might acknowledge that the Palestinians see Israel's anniversary as a great catastrophe for their people. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters, "We are going to Israel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, and that is a great event. We also recognize that resulted in hardship for many Palestinian people." Talk like that is designed to preserve the United States' role as an "honest broker" in the delicate negotiations between the two sides.

Hopes for a final status agreement settling the decades long dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority before the end of the year have been fading since the two sides agreed to the time frame for an agreement at the Annapolis peace conference last year. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that reaching a peace agreement on the tight schedule, "might be improbable but it's not impossible." Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip made its intentions to thwart progress toward a peace deal clear in its statement marking the president's arrival. "No greetings to you, Bush, on our holy land," the spokesman said. "Your people will punish you one day."

Middle East peace is a lofty goal that has eluded at least five U.S. presidents since Jimmy Carter. This latest effort by President Bush, though worthy, is likely to end with the same result. Israelis and Palestinians have radically different notions of what a peaceful Holy Land should look like, and resolving those differences, if they can be resolved, will take far longer than one year and far more than well intentioned negotiations.