"Watching President Bush in Israel..."

Laura Rosen filed this story from Israel, on MoJo, here ... against a background of Gershom Gorenberg's "Losing Lebanon" here and Daniel Levi's IHT, "Road Map To Nowhere," here

"...........If Bush was looking for support in his belief that public opinion is fleeting but that history will be the ultimate judge of his presidency, he found it in spades last night here, where he is widely viewed as a determined leader who understood the terror threat and was willing to act to meet its challenge. Applause interrupted his speech -- replete with famliiar references to remaining steadfast against terror and advancing human liberty ... others in attendance at the conference, ..Condolezza Rice, former Clinton Middle East hand(s) Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk and Daniel Kurtzer, Vaclav Havel, Tony Blair, Google's Sergei Brin and Rupert Murdoch...

Though Bush was described as among the most supportive US presidents of Israel, some Israeli security officials have questioned not his good intentions toward their nation but the pragmatic outcomes of his policies, particularly as Hezbollah demonstrates its growing strength in Lebanon over the US-backed Siniora government and Hamas continues to launch rockets from Gaza into the town of Sderot and the city of Ashkelon. The Bush administration pushed Israel and Palestinian moderates to allow Hamas to run in 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections which Hamas then won, and it took over the Gaza strip last year....."