On May 15, U.S. President George W. Bush gave a speech before the Israeli parliament, decrying "radicals and terrorists." His archaic references to the "promised land" and "chosen people" certainly appealed to the equally outdated and exclusivist views of many, although not all Israeli Knesset members, who reportedly saw in Bush the quintessential Zionist.
A few days later, Bush took his message to Egypt, stating that, "We must stand with the good and decent people of Iran and Syria, who deserve so much better than the life they have today. Every peaceful nation in the region has an interest in stopping these nations from supporting terrorism."
Yet, on May 21, media reports revealed that Israel and Syria were engaged in intermediated peace talks in Turkey. Both sides sounded upbeat, with Syrian officials stating that Israel showed readiness to withdraw from the entire Golan Heights, which it occupied in 1967 and illegally annexed in 1981.