|
Palestinians' expectations low for Bush visit
Ma'an 48 hours remain before George Bush arrives in the Palestinian territories and Israel. Taxi drivers began to ask journalists about whether the Palestinian Authority will impose curfew on the residents of the West Bank during Bush's visit to Ramallah and Bethlehem. Journalists reply, smilingly, no.The Israeli media has been busy covering the news and expectations for the visit. The Israeli government is also trying to benefit from the activity of the Israeli media in forming a front to exert pressure on the U.S administration so as to prevent any exaggerated US promises from Bush to the Palestinians. Palestinian officials and media outlets address the issue with unjustified caution, translating or quoting what the foreign and the Israeli media write on the topic. It seems the Palestinian media believe that abstention from commenting positively or negatively on the visit will be helpful to Palestinians or Americans. What has been written by the Palestinians was not more than exaggerated positive or negative comments without addressing the necessary questions on the visit. US helicopters and security guards landed on Monday in Ramallah and fled over Bethlehem arousing a smile amongst Palestinians. People wonder, "Are those the U.S choppers?" Many called their friends and relatives to tell them to watch these helicopters and the Americans coming to visit us from the windows. These feelings remind some of us of the visit by former US president Bill Clinton to Gaza Strip, Ramallah and Bethlehem in 1998. He was then received in great hospitality by then-Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. So warm was the welcome that Palestinians joked with one another, "Oh guest, had you visited us, you would have discovered that we were the guests and you were the host." A Palestinian security officer told Ma'an: "Frankly speaking, we do not know what this visit could produce. On the one hand, Bush promises to establish a Palestinian state before his term is over and that is good, yet when we watch the Israeli conducts on the ground, we become overwhelmed with despair and we fail to believe what Bush says." A Fatah official in Ramallah told us after we pressured him to comment, "We expect the U.S president to lay flowers on Yasser Araft's grave which is the least that a visitor who respects the people he is visitng, can do." Ma'an also got a comment from a source close to the Americans who said, "It was not planned that the U.S president [will stand] before the grave of Yasser Arafat, neither by the Americans nor by the Palestinians." The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member from Bethlehem Muhammad Al-Lahham said: "We are before a very significant step. We should take advantage of the US president's time and efforts to answer the Palestinian question. If the visitor does not stand before Arafat's grave, it is more important that he answers the Palestinian questions of Jerusalem, independent state, freedom, right of return and Palestinian dignity which Arafat gave his life trying to answer. Posted by: Fred 2008-01-08 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=217905 |