JERUSALEM, Israel – President Bush yesterday predicted he would bring peace to Israel and the Palestinian Arabs during his second term in office, making a strikingly bold assessment of his foreign policy goals for the next four years.

“I want you to know that I am going to invest a lot of time and a lot of creative thinking so that there will finally be peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Mr. Bush told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth. “I am convinced that, during this term, I will manage to bring peace.”

Mr. Bush entered the White House determined not to follow the path of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, who devoted much of his presidency’s capital to an ultimately fruitless search for a settlement in the Holy Land.

But as he prepares for the start of his second term next month, Mr. Bush sees the elusive quest for peace in the Middle East as a principal ambition of his presidency.

Washington regards the Palestinian Arab elections on January 9 as a critical first step to consolidate the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate with whom America believes it can work, following the death last month of Yasser Arafat.

At the same time, Prime Minister Sharon is forcing through his plan to withdraw soldiers and all settlers from the Gaza Strip next summer.

“Next year is very important, as it will bring peace,” said Mr. Bush. “Sharon understood this. It is very important that the Palestinians also understand that peace is not something that is arrived at through words, but through deeds.”

The White House had shunned the Palestinian Arab leadership because it regarded Arafat as a terrorist. But Mr. Bush endorsed his successor, saying: “I have a basis for believing the new Palestinian leadership is also working in the right direction.”

However, according to Yedioth Aharonoth, he shrugged off peace overtures by President Assad of Syria, saying he would have to wait for the Palestinian Arab track to be completed.

“Syria is a very weak country, and therefore it cannot be trusted. For now, Assad should wait; first peace between Israel and Palestine, and then we will see what should be done with Syria.”

His remarks were published ahead of Tuesday’s visit to Israel and the West Bank by Prime Minister Blair, who has urged Mr. Bush take a more “hands on” role in pushing the two sides towards ending violence and renewing the peace process.

The prime minister is planning to hold a conference in London in February to strengthen the new Palestinian Arab leadership, encourage reforms, and prepare the Palestinian Arabs to take over the Gaza Strip after Israel’s withdrawal. Israel said it supported the initiative, but would not participate.

Mr. Sharon’s center-right coalition has collapsed, largely because of a revolt over the withdrawal plan, but the prime minister appeared close yesterday to finalizing a deal for a unity government with the opposition Labor Party.

Shimon Peres, the Labor leader and Israel’s best-known dove, will be appointed as a second deputy prime minister and Labor will receive eight ministerial posts in all.