Bush Moves to Reassure Israel

JERUSALEM -- President Bush outlined a future in which political and economic freedoms spread throughout the Middle East, in a speech aimed at reassuring nervous Israelis that -- with U.S. backing -- they can survive a perceived rising threat from Islamist extremists.

Mr. Bush's comments ran the risk of alienating Palestinians, despite its goal of advancing the White House-led peace initiative to establish a Palestinian state on Israel's borders. Some Palestinians zeroed in on Mr. Bush's language, borrowed from the Old Testament, that described Israel as "the homeland for the chosen people." Israeli settlers and right-wing politicians often use those ...