Bush visits Mideast in last push for peace

US President George W. Bush headed back to the Middle East yesterday facing broad skepticism over his chances of securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before he leaves office in less than nine months.

His second trip to the region this year will get under way in Israel where celebrations of its 60th anniversary have been marred by a bribery scandal surrounding Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that could topple him and disrupt the peace process.

Bush also will be mindful of another crisis brewing next door in Lebanon, where a power struggle between the pro-Western government in Beirut and Iranian-backed Hezbollah could deal a further blow to US efforts to stabilize the Middle East.