(20 Jun 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Mid of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert walking in, shaking hands with US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and signing guest book
2. Mid of Olmert shaking hands with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
3. Zoom in on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nancy Pelosi, US Speaker of the House:
"This is my first opportunity as Speaker of the House to welcome Prime Minister Olmert to the Capitol. Republican and Democratic leaders gathered here, you see how strong the bipartisanship is for a great US-Israel relationship. We are honoured by the Prime Minister's visit, we look forward to hearing from him about the situation in the Middle East."
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader:
"We have no friend in the world like the State of Israel, we welcome you to America."
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican Leader:
"Mr. Prime Minister I think you already know the strong bipartisan support in Congress for the US-Israel relationship. When it comes to Israel and our bilateral relationship there really are no differences here in the Congress we welcome you back to the Capitol."
7. Wide shot of presser
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ehud Olmert, Israeli Prime Minister:
"This is a great source of strength and encouragement for the people of Israel to know that we can rely on this friendship in good times, in bad times, we've always had the support of the US Congress and I'm sure that we will continue to build on the basis of the common values that we share also these relationships towards the future."
9. Mid of Congressional leaders and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert walking away
STORYLINE:
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was welcomed to a bipartisan, bicameral meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday by US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The Speaker, Congressional leaders and the Prime Minister discussed the current situation in the Middle East.
"Republicans and Democratic leaders gathered here, you see how strong the bipartisanship is for a great US-Israel relationship," Pelosi said.
"We are honoured by the Prime Minister's visit, we look forward to hearing from him about the situation in the Middle East," she added.
Olmert said it was "a great source of strength and encouragement for the people of Israel to know that we can rely on this friendship in good times, in bad times."
He added that Israel had always had the support of the US Congress.
"I'm sure that we will continue to build on the basis of the common values that we share also these relationships towards the future," he said.
The meeting on Capitol Hill followed private talks with President George Bush in the Oval Office.
Bush and Olmert sided emphatically on Tuesday with a weakened Mahmoud Abbas, hoping extra money and warm words would give the moderate leader primacy over the Islamic militant Hamas in the newly divided Palestinian territories.
Bush and Olmert met in the aftermath of turmoil that left Abbas, a Western-backed moderate, in control of one Palestinian government in the inland West Bank and his Islamist rival Hamas in control of the separate Gaza Strip on the coast.
The United States and European Union have been moving quickly to shore up Abbas.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday announced an end to an economic and political embargo on the Palestinians.
The rout prompted Abbas to evict Hamas from the Hamas-Fatah coalition government, a move Hamas decries as illegal.
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