Middle East scholar: Bush demonstrated 'historical lapse' in calling for end of Israeli 'occupation'

Speaking from the West Bank town of Ramallah, Bush said that "painful political concessions" are needed for the peace process. And he said Israel must agree to adjust its borders back to the lines drawn before the Israeli victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, says territorial acquisitions in war is nothing new. "The idea that after a successful war the victorious nation may occupy some land from the defeated nation in order to increase its national security and minimize the risk of a future attack -- that is something that is as old as warfare," he claims.

But Spencer says the problem is that President Bush does not seem to think Israel has that right. "When Israel does exactly the same thing when faced by an array of hostile states that have sworn its destruction," he continues, "then suddenly this becomes an unacceptable occupation of Arab land. It's really an unconscionable historical and moral lapse on the part of the president."

The Islam critic says it is interesting there were no calls for a Palestinian state when the same territory was occupied by Egypt and Jordan prior to 1967.