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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/04/AR2008060402820.html
Bush Meets with Sharansky in Washington
[ Washington Post] Michael Abramowitz - President Bush held an unannounced 40-minute Oval Office meeting Tuesday with onetime Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, with whom the president has forged a friendly and intriguing relationship. Sharansky's 2004 book, The Case for Democracy, helped Bush shape his second-term agenda of promoting freedom abroad. Now, Sharansky is pitching a new book, Defending Identity, on the connection between freedom and identity. In an interview after the meeting, Sharansky expressed disappointment that the president has not made greater progress promoting democracy, especially in the Palestinian territories, where he said Bush wrongly pushed for elections that resulted in Hamas winning power in Gaza. "He insisted that it was the right thing to have elections even if Hamas came to power because it shows the true face of Hamas." Sharansky also said he voiced skepticism about putting faith in a Palestinian leader (Mahmoud Abbas) without real power, while not doing enough to build civil society in the Palestinian territories. "There is no way to bring peace from top to bottom," Sharansky said.