US President George W Bush is in Israel on the first leg of a week-long visit to the Middle East.
Speaking on his arrival in Tel Aviv, he said he relished the challenge of re-invigorating the peace process.
He told a welcoming ceremony attended by Israeli president Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he saw a new opportunity for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
It is Mr Bush's first visit to Israel as US president.
Thousands of Hamas supporters are protesting against the visit in Gaza.
Later in the trip he will travel to the West Bank, as well as making stops in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
He is expected to explain to US allies in the region that Washington views Iran as a threat to stability.
Meanwhile Iran has accused the US of 'clumsily' fabricating footage claiming to show Iranian speedboats harassing US ships.
'The pictures that the Pentagon broadcast of the naval incident are file pictures and the voices have all been fabricated,' a senior commander in the Revolutionary Guards is quoted as saying.
The Pentagon released a video and audio tape yesterday that it said confirmed US charges that Iranian speedboats swarmed around US warships in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and radioed a threat to blow them up.
