Analysis: Bush seeks to convince sceptics

Magdi Abdelhadi
BBC Arab affairs editor

For the first time, an American president is in the Arab world for a summit with Arab leaders to discuss the root cause of much of the anger and rancour directed at the United States - the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

The meeting is taking place against a radical new reality in the Middle East.

America is occupying an Arab country, Iraq, and there are an unprecedented number of US troops in the rest of the Gulf.

Bush arrives at a time of American ascendancy in the region

This has widely been seen as the start of a new era in the Middle East. The Americans see it as an historic opportunity to spread democracy, but sceptics say it is a confirmation of American domination.

George W Bush comes to the region after publicly committing himself to do all he can to implement the roadmap peace plan.

However, key players such as Syria and Lebanon are not invited. Washington thinks the two countries have not been co-operative enough in the war on terror.

Commentators have seized upon this disparity to predict failure for the American-backed peace plan.

'Bush the conqueror'

The pro-government press in much of the region has, however, been trying hard to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Commentators express hope that the Americans will deliver on their promises to implement the peace plan despite Israeli objections.

But the sceptics have poured scorn over Arab heads of states. They say these are leaders with no popular legitimacy, who now find themselves squeezed between an arrogant superpower indifferent to their needs to stay in office at any cost, and the fury of their people over their failures.

Mr Bush, says one commentator, comes to the region as a conqueror and the Arabs are not in a position to put pressure on Washington.

Can Mr Bush prove them wrong? If he does, then it may very well be that Arab-American relations are on the verge of a new era.