The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the war in Iraq and Iran's nuclear issue will be the top priorities of US President George W. Bush's foreign agenda during his second term as part of Washington's anti-terrorism and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons strategies. 

The four-year-old conflict between Israel and Palestinians has brought huge losses to both sides. A peaceful way out is necessary.

The Middle East peace process arrived at a new crossroads after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died.

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is showing solidarity with the Palestinian militants to earn their support for his campaign that began in Ramallah on December 25 and will continue until January 7.

Abbas is the ruling Fatah Movement's candidate and widely deemed a favorite to win the presidential elections due to be held on January 9 in the Palestinian territories.

The Bush government policy will be key to the process.

"There is an opportunity at hand to work toward the development of a Palestinian state and peace in the Middle East," Bush said on December 4. "This will be a priority of my administration."

Bush and his ally Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon long regarded Arafat as the "greatest obstruction to peace" and refused to negotiate with him. Now that he is gone, they have lost the excuse for refusing to sit at the table with the Palestinian side.

Shortly after Arafat's death, Bush reiterated the US-proposed "roadmap," a peace plan launched in 2003 also with the participation of the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

He promised to establish a Palestinian state within four years, but the date initially set by the "roadmap" was 2005.

But Bush has given no sign of applying additional pressure to Israel. Instead, in early December he stressed Palestine's reform and democracy as the core of the Israel-Palestine peace talks.

"Achieving peace in the Holy Land is not just a matter of pressuring one side or the other on the shape of a border or the site of a settlement," he said, noting "the heart of the matter" is a peaceful Palestinian government that is also Israel's true partner in peace.

Bush said the only way to achieve peace in the region is "the path of democracy and reform and the rule of law."

Bush's statement, as the Washington Post commented, showed that he will exert more pressure on Palestine's political reform, not Israel's responsibility in the Middle East peace process, in his second term.

Iraq is scheduled to hold its first elections on January 30 since its former leader Saddam Hussein was toppled by US-led coalition forces in 2003.

The United States deployed a new contingent in Iraq's northern city of Mosul on Friday ahead of the nationwide elections to strengthen the security, said a US military statement early on Sunday.

Should the elections proceed smoothly, it will be a significant achievement in Bush's Middle East strategy.

"A free Iraq will be a standing rebuke to radicalism and a model to reformers from Damascus to Teheran," Bush said in early December.

But the elections seemed to have run into a stonewall. Despite Bush and Iraqi interim government's perseverance, the process has been hindered by the US troops' November attack on insurgents in Fallujah and other cities in central and northern Iraq and Washington's recent decision to increase its military forces in Iraq, continued violence and opposite opinions.

There are just a few weeks before the elections, yet the security situation in Iraq has shown no signs of improvement. Washington's efforts to re-establish order and security in the gulf country have failed to bring about a satisfactory result.

Insurgents in Iraq have mounted their campaign recently against the US-backed Iraqi security forces in a bid to disrupt the elections. Three Iraqi militant groups -- the Army of Ansar al-Sunnah, Islamic Army in Iraq and Army of the Mujahideen released a statement on December 30, which threatened to attack Iraqis who will take part in the general elections.

Most Sunni parties have decided to boycott the ballot, calling for the postponement of the vote until the security situation stabilizes.

Bush appears set to continue his pressure on Iran although Washington failed to win international support, even from its major European allies, to submit the Iran nuclear issues to the UN security Council as Iran and three European countries, namely, France, Germany and Britain, reached an agreement on November 29 on the suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment program.

Iran has long been regarded by Washington as an obstacle in the US Middle East strategy.

Bush listed Iran on the "axis of evil" and accused it of developing nuclear weapons secretly.

The Bush administration has been trying for almost two years to take Iran's nuclear case to the Security Council in an attempt to put UN sanctions on the Islamic republic.

In his latest remarks on the development of nuclear talks between Iran and the three European Union countries, Bush insisted that any deal on Iran's nuclear activities must be "verifiable."

Washington, after the November 29 agreement, agreed to hold off trying to punish Iran to give the country time to keep a promise to freeze all programs on the enrichment of uranium. But Iran said later it was only prepared to keep its uranium enrichment activities frozen for a few months instead of permanently as demanded by the European Union and Washington, claiming it "has the right to enjoy the peaceful use of nuclear technology."

The US Government has expressed skepticism that Iran will stick to its commitments with the EU, saying it reserves the right to take Iran's case to the Security Council on its own.

Analysts said since US policy-makers believed once Iran has nuclear weapons, the US interests in the Middle East will be in great danger. Therefore, Washington will go on pressing Iran to fully give up its nuclear program.

(China Daily January 4, 2005)