Bush, Rice signal shift in Israel policy

washington | Signifying a change from President Bush's first term, top foreign policy officials in the Bush administration are aggressively courting European nations to play a more active role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

At the same time, the officials are actively reaching out to American Jewish officials to assure them that Bush's new proactive posture in the Middle East will not diminish his closeness to Israel.

The president has made it clear that he sees a new opportunity to push for peace now that he has weathered re-election and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has passed from the scene.

Last week, Bush notably singled out Germany, France and Britain to thank them for their work in persuading Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment, though the administration reportedly remains deeply skeptical of the agreement's chances of success. In addition, the first foreign leader Bush met after his election was British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Significantly, the push toward a more multilateral Mideast policy is coming not from outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell but from Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser and his nominee to succeed Powell.

Bush ordered Elliott Abrams, the top Mideast specialist on the National Security Council, Rice and other staffers to read Israeli Cabinet minister Natan Sharansky's just-published "The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror." Sharansky's thesis, that only free societies guarantee regional and global security, hews closely to Bush's own strategy in Iraq, with the Palestinians and elsewhere.

Bush's new European emphasis does not mean the administration is backtracking in its support for Israel, Rice assured a group of top U.S. Jewish officials earlier this week. Bush would not pay a "price" to the Europeans of distancing the United States from Israel, she said.

"I hope that everyone understands by now that you don't extract a price from this president," Rice said, according to notes taken by a participant. "The things he has always stood for relative to Israel's security and a settlement that is fair and just, he absolutely stands by those commitments."

Still, Rice emphasized once again that Bush expects results from Israel.

"Israel also has responsibilities and the administration will expect Israel to abide by its responsibilities," the participant quoted Rice as telling the 14 leaders of organizations including the Reform movement, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Israel Policy Forum, the Orthodox Union and the Anti-Defamation League. Other participants confirmed the content of Rice's remarks.