Bush sees Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in 2008

US President George W. Bush believes an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal will be reached this year, according to excerpts of an interview published on Thursday ahead of his visit to the region.

Bush said the two sides must clinch a deal in 2008 in order to see the creation of a Palestinian state, Israel's top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted him as saying in the interview which will be published in full on Friday.

The US president is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories next week in a bid to give a push to Middle East peace talks which were relaunched at an international conference in Annapolis in November.

In the interview, Bush sought to ease Israeli fears that any future Palestinian state could threaten its security.

"I will not allow the creation of a terrorist state on Israel's border," he said in a quote translated into Hebrew.

Jerusalem, Thursday, AFP