CAIRO, Jan 22: Newspapers in Egypt and Syria on Thursday took pains to highlight US President George Bush's omission of any reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his State of the Union address.

"Bush ignores the Palestinian question and asks for an increase in the budget to promote democratization in the region!" Egypt's government newspaper Al Ahram said in a front-page headline.

While other Cairo newspapers also ran news reports of his Tuesday night speech, highlighting the president's stand on the "war on terror" or other aspects of the Middle East, the Egyptian media refrained from any commentary.

Al Ahram also ran headlines from lines in his speech. It published a reaction from chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who argued that Mr Bush's speech meant the United States had decided to withdraw from the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Another government newspaper, Al Akhbar, ran only one headline half-way down its front page quoting from Mr Bush's speech. "America is pursuing a forward strategy of freedom in the greater Middle East," it read.

It included George Bush's defence of the invasion of Iraq and that his government would not seek anyone's permission when it came to defending US national security.

The other main government newspaper, Al Gomhouria, only covered the speech on its inside pages. "Bush Defends Decision to Go to War in Iraq," the main headline read. It added that "the Palestinians believe the United States has pulled out of the peace process."

Syria's state-run newspapers devoted plenty of space to Mr Bush's omissions. "Israeli-Arab conflict absent from State of Union. Bush has isolated the United States, say the Democrats," the ruling party's Al Baath daily screamed in large type.

"Bush totally ignored the question of the conflict in the region, and talked about his achievements in the State of the Union. The Democrats call on him to take responsibility for isolating the United States," added the Tishrin daily.The paper also ran US editorials critical of the speech, notably from heavyweights like New York Times and Washington Post. -AFP