(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-15 09:46

Such rhetoric jars with Palestinians, more than 4 million of whom are refugees. Many doubt whether they will ever have their own state, a despair that prompted many to vote for Hamas.

The future of Jerusalem is a particular bone of contention. Washington and other powers do not recognise Israel's annexation of the city, where Palestinians want to have their own capital.

On Thursday, Bush will visit the Roman-era Dead Sea fortress of Masada, a symbol for Israel's Zionist founders of courage and aspirations to Jewish statehood. Palestinians will hold two minutes silence and other events to recall the Nakba.

Bush reserved some of his strongest comments for the situation in Lebanon, where Hezbollah briefly took over parts of Beirut in fighting that erupted last week: "This is an Iranian effort to destabilise Lebanon's young democracy," Bush said.

He called Israel the "only true democracy" in the Middle East and said it could serve as an example for the region.

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