White House Notebook: Bush a bit wary of drinking the water

U.S. President George W. Bush, forth from bottom, gestures as he attends the Israeli Presidential Conference along with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israel's President Shimon Peres, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, May 14, 2008. President Bush said Wednesday that 60 years of Israel's existence is cause for optimism for democratic change throughout the Middle East. "What happened here is possible everywhere," Bush said, opening a trip divided between ceremonial duties and a new push for Israeli-Palestinian peace. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

JERUSALEM—On a sun-baked tour Thursday of an ancient Israeli fortress overlooking the Dead Sea, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took a sip of water from a silver cup, then handed it to President Bush.

Bush looked into the cup, then quickly set it down. He wasn't sure he should wet his lips with water from an unknown source.

"Where's the doctor?" Bush asked and then chuckled.

Not wanting to offend his Israeli host, Bush gave Olmert a big hug for the cameras.

Later, their tour guide at Masada explained that the water wasn't meant for drinking anyway.

The guide told them to pour the water on a model of Masada's massive system of dams, channels and cisterns that could hold 40,000 cubic meters of water. When they poured it on the model, they could watch as it flowed through the system.

Oh, that's what the water was for.

Photo-op success!

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Finding an agreement to end hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians is a serious diplomatic challenge. But it doesn't hurt to lighten up sometimes.

In a speech to the Israeli parliament, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was committed to carrying out Bush's vision of forming an independent Palestinian state next to Israel.

When a deal is reached, Olmert predicted that the divided parliament and Israeli public will rally behind it.

"When the day comes for a historic peace agreement between us and our Palestinian neighbors, it will be brought to the approval of this house," Olmert told the Knesset. "This agreement will be approved in the Knesset by a large majority and will be supported by the vast majority of the Israeli public."

Instead of applause, there was a wall of silence.

Bush began laughing, and Olmert tried to crack a joke, saying Bush probably never expected the parliament to be that quiet.

Olmert repeated his prediction that the Knesset and nation will overwhelmingly support a peace agreement.

Lawmakers in the chamber responded with lukewarm applause, but then a heckler shouted, "You'll never get to that moment!" Two hardline religious lawmakers stood up and walked out.

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The mood turned considerably more favorable when Bush -- who has mocked himself for mangling English now and then -- spoke in Hebrew.

"Yom Atzmaut Sameach," the president exclaimed at the start of his speech honoring Israel's 60th anniversary. That means "Happy Independence Day."

By speaking the language, and doing it well, Bush got an enormous round of applause. It lasted about 50 seconds, not the kind of treatment Bush is used to at home.

Finally, the parliament speaker, Dalia Itzik, had to step in. She asked everyone, including spectators in the gallery, to clap in moderation.

A day before, Bush had joked that he'd heard the Knesset was "a place of many a sharp elbow." He said he didn't plan to throw any of his own.

He didn't.

It's not like this was his favorite target, the U.S. Congress.

"It is a rare privilege for an American president to address the Knesset," he said.

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Associated Press Writer Josef Federman contributed to this story.