MIDDLE EAST: There was only one sentence in President Bush's Whitehall speech yesterday that criticised Israel, and several withering passages regarding corrupt Palestinian leaders, the imperative for Palestinian democracy and the need for the Palestinians to pursue their aspiration for statehood by peaceful means.
But that single sentence constituted one of the bluntest denunciations of the policy of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that this US President has issued.
"Israel should freeze settlement construction," Mr Bush declared, "dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people, and not prejudice final negotiations with the placements of walls and fences."
Reacting while on an official visit to Rome, Mr Sharon said the ties between Israel and the US were excellent, and that while there were some differences, these did not undermine the fundamental alliance.
"I don't advise anyone to see it as a sign of new tension," he said.
His Foreign Minister, Mr Silvan Shalom, rejected at least part of Mr Bush's plea, declaring that the security barrier Israel was erecting, which goes sometimes deep into the West Bank, would go ahead at full speed.
"We have reached a clear and unequivocal decision to build this fence to prevent the extremists from attacking us," he said.
Although the vehemence of Mr Bush's remarks caught Jerusalem by surprise, there has been mounting criticism from the US in recent weeks over all the issues Mr Bush raised yesterday.
According to Mr Ehud Ya'ari, the Arab affairs editor at Israel's Channel 2 news, Mr Bush's position on the fence will bolster the demand from the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Mr Ahmed Korei, for it to be rerouted out of West Bank territory - a demand that Mr Korei has indicated may be a condition for the ceasefire he is trying to forge.
While Israeli officials may also have been dismayed by the US President's disinclination to specifically relate to Israel's difficulties in the passage of his speech where he championed "the measured use of force", he did reserve far more of his criticism for the Palestinians.
He stressed the need to end "a cycle of dictatorship and radicalism that brings millions of people to misery" throughout the Middle East and, as often in the past, seemed to condition Palestinian statehood on the emergence of a viable Palestinian democracy.
"Peace will not be achieved by Palestinian rulers who intimidate opposition, who tolerate and profit from corruption and maintain their ties to terrorist groups," he said, including Jerusalem on his list of cities scarred by terrorism.
And although he did not mention Mr Yasser Arafat by name, he again underlined the US and European policy diverge where the PA President is concerned. Days after the EU criticised Israel for boycotting Mr Arafat, Mr Bush intimated his endorsement of the Israeli position. "Leaders in Europe should withdraw all favour and support from any Palestinian ruler who fails his people and betrays their cause."
At Eliat, Israel's southernmost point, a Jordanian gunman yesterday morning opened fire on Ecuadorian tourists at a border crossing, killing one woman and injuring four others. An Israeli security guard at the Yitzhak Rabin border terminal returned fire and killed the assailant. Jordan, which signed a peace accord with Israel nine years ago, condemned the attack as the act of a lone gunman.