JERUSALEM (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has reaffirmed his support for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert while insisting that a corruption probe into the premier will not derail Middle East peace talks. In an interview with Israeli journalists in Washington, Bush declined to comment on the investigation into Olmert but said his "relations with the prime minister have been nothing but excellent," according to a transcript of the meeting published on the Haaretz newspaper's website on Tuesday. Bush stressed that "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." Israel and the Palestinians relaunched formal peace negotiations in November at a US conference hosted by Bush, who said he hoped to see the signing of a full peace agreement before leaving office in January 2009. "This is not an Olmert plan; this is a plan of a government. (Israeli foreign minister) Tzipi Livni is handling the negotiations... (Defence Minister Ehud) Barak is involved," Bush said. Livni, a senior member of Olmert's centrist Kadima party, is favoured to succeed him in the event he is forced to step down because of allegations he received funds illegally from a US millionaire businessman in the 1990s. Bush was to arrive in Israel and meet Olmert on Wednesday at the start of a five-day trip to the region anchored on Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations and also including stopovers in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.