Arab allies hit back at Bush administration over Iraq, Israel

Egypt's president says Arabs hold a "hatred never equaled" toward America. Jordan's king abruptly postpones a visit to the White House. And those are among the United States' best friends in the Arab world.

The war in Iraq, and a shift on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, has left the Bush administration facing growing hostility and an estrangement from friends across the Middle East.

"There is enormous anger in the Arab world that needs to be dealt with," said Nail Al-Jubeir, a spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington.

Jordan and Egypt are the only two of Israel's Arab neighbors to have a peace treaty with Israel. Yet people in both countries were enraged last week when Bush endorsed an Israeli proposal to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank but keep Jewish settlements on other West Bank land claimed by the Palestinians.

Suspicious of Bush's strong support for Israel and his endorsement of Sharon as a man of peace, the Arabs have not been dissuaded by Bush's support for the establishment of a Palestinian state.