Following his lengthy meeting in Texas with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, President Bush yesterday told Israel it was now time to complete its withdrawal from Palestinian cities.
"The Israelis understand my position . . . There has been some progress, but it's now time to quit it altogether," Mr Bush said from his ranch in Crawford in Texas a day after his talks, reflecting US anger at yesterday's Israeli raids.
But he made clear in response to Saudi urgings to temper his support for Israel that defence of the latter's right to exist remained central to US foreign policy.
"I told the crown prince that we've got a unique relationship with Israel and that one thing that the world can count on is that we will not allow Israel to be crushed," Mr Bush said.
Although he made clear that he would not support an oil embargo against the US, Crown Prince Abdullah's message to President Bush was blunt and uncomfortable.
The US's continued toleration of Israeli tactics is doing huge damage to American credibility in the Middle East and making it impossible to build an alliance for peace in Palestine, let alone support for US action against Iraq, the crown prince told the President in five hours of talks at the ranch.
"If Sharon is left to his own devices, he will drag the region over a cliff," Mr Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign policy adviser to the Saudi crown prince, said after the meetings.
"That does not serve America's interests, and it does not serve Saudi Arabia's interests."
Mr Bush's aides were trying to put a more positive gloss on the meeting, emphasising the importance of their discussions on advancing the crown prince's peace initiative.
The initiative is an offer by Arab states to recognise Israel if it withdraws completely from the Occupied Territories. The US supports the proposal.
And Mr Bush stressed the personal."One of the really positive things out of this meeting was that the crown prince and I established a strong personal bond," Mr Bush told reporters. "We spent a lot of time alone."
"He's a man who's got a farm and he understands the land, and I really took great delight in being able to drive him around in a pick-up truck and showing him the trees and my favourite spots," Mr Bush said. "And we saw a wild turkey, which was good."
Saudi sources said the crown prince's message was not a threat to the US that Saudi Arabia will break with it, or, contrary to some reports, ask the United States to leave Saudi bases.
Rather, as a friend, it was a warning that moderate Arab regimes are feeling increasingly vulnerable to internal dissent fed by popular rage at Israeli actions.
Among the issues under discussion was the possibility of a regional peace conference but no decision was reached.
"We haven't made any decision about whether we think an international conference makes sense now," an administration official said. "Any such conference would have be to very well prepared."
