Hizbullah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said: "Today is a black day in history," he said. "It is a shameful day for Arabs and Muslims. Bush gives absolute legitimacy to [the Israelis] and to their acts of slaughter, and then the Arab rulers receive him with blessings and Arab hospitality."

"Bush came to the region to carry out the great deception," Nasrallah said. "He says he came to protect the Arabs and especially the Gulf states from Iran… Islamic Iran that attacks no one and declares war on no one."

A Hizbullah clergyman, Sheikh Muhammad Yazbek, said Wednesday that "Bush's arrival is a tourist visit that was intended to… give a green light to Olmert to murder more Palestinians."