Washington ? Israel’s long and proud tradition of defending itself and not asking even its closest friend the United States to fight its battles was newly endorsed Wednesday by President Bush in a White House meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“If Iraq were to attack Israel tomorrow, I’m sure there would be appropriate response,” Bush said at a joint White House news conference with Sharon. “I would assume the prime minister would respond. He’s got a desire to defend himself.”

Bush’s implicit support seemed limited to an unprovoked Iraqi attack and not necessarily to a wartime situation. White House officials said that would call for consultations between Washington and Jerusalem.

Sharon already has asserted Israel “will take the proper steps to defend its citizens” if attacked by Iraq during another Persian Gulf war.

According to a senior Israeli official, Bush did not ask Sharon to show restraint in the event of an Iraqi attack.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said Sharon was convinced the United States would give Israel sufficient warning if it decided to attack Iraq.

And, the official said, Sharon was convinced the United States would make every possible effort to keep Iraq from attacking Israel.

Still, Israel knows how to defend itself, he said.

Bush and American diplomats are in the midst of trying to line up Arab and other nations to support the United States in the event of war.

Only a few Arab nations are prepared to make that commitment, and their support might melt away if Israel retaliated against an Iraqi attack.

Aware of that risk, administration officials quickly followed up Bush’s remarks by trying to draw a line between an unprovoked Iraqi attack on Israel and an attack in the event of war.

Bush’s assertion of Israel’s right to self-defense applies to an unprovoked attack, they said. If there is war, the United States and Israel would consult.

Bush said he hoped a war situation would never arise.

“I have told the prime minister that my hope is that we could achieve a disarmament of the Iraqi regime peacefully,” Bush said. “I haven’t given up on the fact that we can achieve it peacefully.”

Former President George H.W. Bush, Bush’s father, took a different approach to Israel as he prepared for war with Iraq in 1991 to reverse its annexation of Kuwait.

Bush and his secretary of state, James H. Baker III, had lined up several Arab countries to join in the war alongside the United States.

Bush decided it was essential that Israel remain on the sidelines. He sent then-Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and Paul Wolfowitz, now deputy secretary of defense, to Jerusalem to reinforce his message.

Despite Iraq firing 39 Scud missiles at Israel, then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir held his fire.

The younger Bush evidently is not urging Sharon to do likewise. Instead, he is publicly asserting Israel’s right to self-defense, even while counseling Israel to be restrained in responding to terror.

Whatever Bush may have told Sharon during their 45-minute meeting, the prime minister appeared pleased.

“We have never had such relations with any president of the United States as we have with you,” Sharon said. “And we never had such cooperation.”