President Bush has opened a celebratory visit to Israel where he’ll make a new push for peace in the long-troubled Middle East.

The president arrived in Tel Aviv and was flying by helicopter to Jerusalem for events marking the 60th anniversary of Israel’s birth in the wake of the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews. Bush also will visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Bush says the Mideast is “the center of anti-Americanism and hatred” and that those who attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11 “came from this part of the world.” But Bush says that the vast majority of people in the region don’t hate America. Bush says the best way to keep Americans secure is to advance freedom in the Middle East.