US President George W Bush has started his Middle East trip in Israel where he hopes to push ahead with peace efforts while marking the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state.

"We have built an enduring alliance to confront terrorists and tyrants," Bush said in a brief address after his arrival at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.

"I look forward to discussing how I believe our two nations can continue to advance our ideals and approach our next 60 years of partnership with confidence and with hope," said Bush, who was given a red carpet welcome to the sound of a military brass band.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hailed Israel's alliance with the United States as "one of the fundamental pillars of our national security".

He said Bush's decision to visit on the country's 60th anniversary "is an extraordinary gesture of friendship and is further evidence of your unending commitment to the security and wellbeing of our country".

However, Bush's visit comes at a time of renewed turmoil in the region which bodes ill for the Israeli-Palestinian peace that has made little tangible progress since he hosted a conference to revive them in November.

His Middle East trip takes place against a backdrop of deadly sectarian fighting in Lebanon that Bush has blamed on Syria and Iran, and defiance from Hamas over conditions for a truce in the embattled and besieged Gaza Strip.

The US president will also visit Saudi Arabia to mark 75 years of US relations with the oil-rich kingdom, and hold talks in Egypt with regional leaders, including Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

The visit is Bush's second since January - after seven years in which he did not set foot in either Israel or the Palestinian territories.

The highlights of his trip include an address to the Israeli parliament and a visit to the ruins of the Masada fortress that became a symbol of Jewish heroism after dozens of Jews there chose to kill themselves rather than surrender to the Romans in 70 AD.

Both events will take place Thursday, when Palestinians commemorate the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who lost their homes and their land when Israel was created in May 1948.

Bush, who will not visit the Palestinian territories, told the BBC Arabic service he had a message for the Palestinians: "I say to them that I care deeply about the Palestinian people and their future."

As he arrived, four Palestinians were killed in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, medics said.

The US president hopes a peace deal will shore up his legacy and has expressed confidence agreement could be reached in the eight months left in his term.

"The vision of a (Palestinian) state is such a powerful notion and such an important notion for Israel's very existence, that I do believe that we have a chance to get something defined," Bush told reporters on the eve of the trip.

Bush was to hold talks later Wednesday with Olmert, who faces mounting calls to resign over allegations he took bribes from a millionaire US financier.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and armed forces chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi were to take part in the meeting.

Palestinians are concerned that the Olmert affair could make Israel take a harder line regarding settlement building, lead to military escalation and further stall any peace talks.

Since the November agreement between Olmert and Abbas, Israel has announced plans to pursue construction in Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian lands - a core dispute. And the United States has said that its ally has not done enough to improve Palestinian quality of life.

Another obstacle is the continuing violence in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where Israel conducts regular military raids and imposes a crippling blockade in a bid to force militants to halt their almost daily attacks on the Jewish state.

Both sides have talked separately to Egyptian mediators about a possible truce, but Hamas rejected Israel's demand it first release an Israeli soldier it captured almost two years ago.

Bush faces another crisis in Lebanon, where Israel's arch foe Hezbollah has led an armed campaign against forces loyal to the pro-Western government which has resulted in more than 60 deaths in the past week.