US President George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union address Monday evening, praising the 2005 election of Mahmoud Abbas and once again calling for a Palestinian state.

Bush lauded the election of Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas in 2005 as PA chairman as proof of a rejection of terrorism among PA Arabs. “We are also standing against the forces of extremism in the Holy Land, where we have new cause for hope. Palestinians have elected a president who recognizes that confronting terror is essential to achieving a state where his people can live in dignity and at peace with Israel,” Bush said.

Abbas in fact garnered less than 63 percent of the vote, with only half of those eligible casting ballots and Hamas and Islamic Jihad boycotting the elections. When Hamas ran on a platform of continued terror attacks in 2006, it garnered 56 percent of the legislative seats, while Fatah received only 34 percent.

Bush began his words regarding the Middle East with an emotional description of global Islamic terrorism that noticeably omitted attacks targeting Israelis. “In the past seven years, we have also seen images that have sobered us,” he said. “We have watched throngs of mourners in Lebanon and Pakistan carrying the caskets of beloved leaders taken by the assassin’s hand. We have seen wedding guests in blood-soaked finery staggering from a hotel in Jordan, Afghans and Iraqis blown up in mosques and markets, and trains in London and Madrid ripped apart by bombs. And on a clear September day, we saw thousands of our fellow citizens taken from us in an instant. These horrific images serve as a grim reminder: The advance of liberty is opposed by terrorists and extremists — evil men who despise freedom, despise America, and aim to subject millions to their violent rule.”

The only mention of PA Arab terrorism was in the repeated assertions that the residents of the Palestinian Authority reject terrorism and will do so even more if freedom is increased there. “In the long run, men and women who are free to determine their own destinies will reject terror and refuse to live in tyranny,” Bush said. “That is why the terrorists are fighting to deny this choice to people in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Palestinian Territories.”

Bush seemed to scale back his insistence on the establishment of a Palestinian state within this year regardless of any action against terrorism, seeking rather to “define” such a state by then. “This month in Ramallah and Jerusalem, I assured leaders from both sides that America will do, and I will do, everything we can to help them achieve a peace agreement that defines a Palestinian state by the end of this year. The time has come for a Holy Land where a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine live side-by-side in peace.”

The US President reiterated America’s opposition to Iran’s nuclear program and support of Hamas. “We are also standing against the forces of extremism embodied by the regime in Tehran,” he said. “…wherever freedom advances in the Middle East, it seems the Iranian regime is there to oppose it. Iran is funding and training militia groups in Iraq, supporting Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon, and backing Hamas’ efforts to undermine peace in the Holy Land. Tehran is also developing ballistic missiles of increasing range and continues to develop its capability to enrich uranium, which could be used to create a nuclear weapon…

“Our message to the leaders of Iran is also clear: Verifiably suspend your nuclear enrichment, so negotiations can begin. And to rejoin the community of nations, come clean about your nuclear intentions and past actions, stop your oppression at home, and cease your support for terror abroad. But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf.”