Bush Calls for End to Israeli 'Occupation'

In a historic visit to the West Bank, President Bush today called on Israel to “end the occupation that began in 1967,” to make way for a Palestinian state. He also said that state would have to be contiguous. “Swiss cheese isn’t going to work,” he said. He called for  "new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue," acknowledging that  “painful” concessions are required to make peace. 

Palestine, for its part, must dismantle its “terrorist infrastructure,” Bush said. “No Palestinian state will be born out of terror.” Finally, he called on the people of Gaza to unseat Hamas, a “competing vision” that has “delivered nothing but misery.” His own role, he said, is to pressure the leaders and “be a pain, if I need to be a pain.” (More Arab Israeli conflict stories.)