Olmert in U.S. to bid farewell to Bush

By Jeffrey Heller

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began a visit to Washington on Sunday to bid farewell to President George W. Bush before the two lame-duck leaders leave office without the Palestinian statehood deal they had sought.

The United States, Israel and the Palestinians have all acknowledged they will not have a peace accord in place before Bush vacates the White House in January, missing a target date set at the Annapolis peace conference a year ago this week.

Bush and Olmert meet on Monday, and the Israeli leader flies home the next day after seeing U.S. Jewish leaders.

No major announcements are expected, but a spokesman for Olmert said, "When the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel get together, they always have serious matters to discuss."

Olmert, who resigned in September in a corruption scandal, remains prime minister until a new government is formed after Israel's February 1O parliamentary election.

Although he has pledged to pursue peace until his last day in office, public interest in Israel in Olmert's policies and administration has waned as the election campaign gathered speed.

Only one Israeli journalist, a correspondent for state-owned Israel Television, traveled on Olmert's plane on the flight from Tel Aviv to Washington. About a dozen Israeli reporters usually accompany him on U.S. visits.

Opinion polls in Israel show former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party leading ruling centrist Kadima faction in the election.

Netanyahu has said he would focus peace efforts with the Palestinians on shoring up their economy rather than on territorial issues.

IRAN

Olmert aides said that besides taking stock of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, his talks with Bush would also focus on Iran's nuclear program and indirect negotiations Israel has been holding with Syria.

"The prime minister wants to generate a final tailwind for the Syrian track," one of the aides said on condition of anonymity.

A report compiled by Olmert's National Security Council and published in part by an Israeli newspaper on Sunday said Israel should pursue a U.S.-backed breakthrough in talks with Syria next year to help contain threats from Iran's nuclear program.

The report argues for "paying the heavy price" of an accord with Syria -- the return of the occupied Golan Heights.

As his term winds down, Olmert has been increasingly vocal about what he sees as the need for Israel to relinquish nearly all of the land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war in return for peace, while retaining major Jewish settlement blocs.