Two Audiences, Two Speeches

SHARM-EL-SHEIKH, Egypt The adage that all politics is local never seemed as true as it did last week, when President Bush spent five days dashing through the Middle East. A voyage that, from the White House point of view, was aimed largely at celebrating ties with two different but venerable allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, became a trip about an appeasement comment and U.S. gas prices in the narrative of the media.

Despite the transitory headlines, the lasting impact of the trip will almost certainly lie in the Middle East. Particularly noteworthy, it seemed, were Bush's two big speeches -- one Thursday to the Israeli Knesset, when he paid homage to the survival of the Jewish state after 60 years, identified with its approach to combating terrorism and vowed to be always by its side.

The address was filled with powerful and emotional language, no more so than near the beginning, when the president gamely managed to say in Hebrew "Yom Ha'atzmaut Sameach"("Happy Independence Day"), touching off a delirious uproar among the 1,000 or so guests crammed into the tiny chamber.

To Israeli and Arab ears alike, Bush seemed to be saying that although he may be committed in his mind to achieving a Palestinian state, in his heart his sympathies are with the residents of this tiny sliver of land surrounded by potential adversaries.

That implied message was not received well by Palestinians or in the broader Arab world, and Bush seemed to complement the message Sunday with a much more forceful endorsement of the Palestinian cause, as well as a summing-up of his ambitious democratic vision for the Middle East. "We must stand with the Palestinian people, who have suffered for decades and earned the right to have a homeland of their own," Bush told the World Economic Forum at this Red Sea resort.

He also had pointed words for the Israelis that he avoided in the Knesset: "Israel must make tough sacrifices for peace and ease restrictions on Palestinians."

How all this will play out as Bush's peace process enters its final months is uncertain. The White House view is that he has built substantial capital with both sides, and that Israelis and Palestinians have reason to try to make a deal with this president rather than wait for the next.

We will probably know the outlook by fall. Speculation in Jerusalem was that Bush will return in October, this time to try to push the parties over the finish line, and the White House was not discouraging that view Sunday.

Present and Accounted For

The last time Bush was in Israel, in January, it felt like more of a working visit. There were news conferences and consultations with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Although Bush did have meetings with Israeli officials last week, this visit had more of a ceremonial feel -- no surprise given the main reason Bush was in Jerusalem was to mark Israel's 60th birthday.

To help celebrate, he brought along a sizable delegation of prominent American Jews, political supporters and leaders of many U.S. mainstream Jewish groups.

Among the buddies present were a number of big-time Republican donors who accompanied Bush on his first trip to Israel in 1998, when, as Texas governor, he took that famous helicopter ride over the country with then-Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon. These include Houston businessman Fred Zeidman, chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council; Florida developer Mel Sembler; and the U.S. ambassador to Brazil, Cliff Sobel.

A couple of Hollywood actors showed up for the festivities: When Bush arrived Thursday to speak at the Knesset, one guest drawing attention was Jon Voight of "Midnight Cowboy" fame (or, perhaps more aptly, father of Angelina Jolie). He wasn't in the delegation, and it wasn't clear why Voight was there, but others in the audience definitely wanted their picture taken with him.