Bush basks in Israel's love

Facing dismally low approval ratings at home, US President George W. Bush basked for three days in near-adulation as he joined Israel's 60th anniversary festivities.

Bush, who was to head on to Saudi Arabia on Friday, returned the favour, hailing the close US ally as a mighty democracy where liberty and justice thrive.

Just about every moment appeared to be devoted to mutual expressions of admiration and friendship, which also offered Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a respite from the latest police graft investigation against him.

His speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, drew him standing ovations and earned him ecstatic praise from right-wing parties.

"It was a Zionist speech in the full sense of the word," said former foreign minister Silvan Shalom, of the Likud party. "His speech was the speech of a member of the National Religious Party," NRP chairman Zvulun Orlev said, according to the Maariv daily.

"You have raised a modern society in the promised land," Bush told members of parliament on Thursday. "And you have built a mighty democracy that will endure forever and can always count on America to stand at its side."

Seven months before his term of office ends, Bush leaves a complex legacy in the Middle East where Israel and the Palestinians remain locked in a cycle of violence despite an 11th hour drive to reach a peace deal by the end of this year. Link