JERUSALEM — President George Bush arrives in Israel Wednesday amid a tense period in U.S. relations with the Jewish state.

A report said the two countries disagree over the Iranian nuclear threat as well as Bush's plan for a Palestinian state by 2009, Middle East Newsline reported. The report by the Institute for Contemporary Affairs, titled "The Bush Visit and Tensions in the U.S.-Israel Relationship," warned of Israel's reliance on the United States as it loses influence in the Middle East.

"President Bush's first visit to Israel since taking office in 2001 comes at a time of strain in the usually cooperative relationship between Jerusalem and Washington," author Gerald Steinberg said.

Steinberg, a leading Israeli strategist, cited the National Intelligence Estimate, which asserted that Teheran has abandoned nuclear weapons development. The report said NIE, released in December 2007, marked a surprise that threatened a 15-year Israeli policy to stop Iran through an international coalition.

"[It] has reminded Israelis of the limits of American security guarantees and strategic cooperation," the report said. "Despite the central importance of these issues, the years of strategic coordination meetings, and repeated American assurances, Israeli policy-makers were apparently not consulted on the decision to release the NIE report, its timing, or its very contentious wording. Israel could do nothing as the U.S. crippled the primary source of pressure which had contributed to the Iranian decision to close — or hide — the blatant aspects of its nuclear weapons development in 2003."

The report said U.S. influence has waned, particularly in the Middle East, making any Israeli-U.S. defense treaty unfeasible. Instead, Russia has returned as a leading supplier to the Middle East while Pakistan, a major U.S. ally, has deteriorated.

Iran was said to have dramatically improved relations with Arab and other allies in wake of NIE. Steinberg cited the Russian delivery of two shipments of nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor in December 2007. Egypt and Saudi Arabia were also said to have enhanced ties with Teheran.

"Another source of stress," the report said, "comes from differences over renewed U.S. efforts to forge a quick agreement with the Palestinian Authority at a time of continued terrorism, the violent conflict between Fatah and Hamas, the failure to develop functioning Palestinian institutions, and the PA's ongoing incitement and rejection of the legitimacy of a Jewish state."

The report said Bush's desire for the rapid establishment of a Palestinian state could lead to U.S. abandonment of Israeli security interests. Steinberg said this could result in U.S. opposition to Israel's insistence of a military presence in the Jordan Valley. The Palestinian Authority has opposed Israeli demands that any Palestinian state must be demilitarized.

"While President Bush and other U.S. officials have backed Israel on these issues in the past, the American desire to obtain a quick agreement may lead to changes in these policies and more tension," the report said.

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