Bush in Palestine

Last Wednesday I woke up to a usual working day in Jerusalem, which actually was not that usual. It was the day that Bush was arriving in Israel and Palestine for the first time in his life!

Here is another great cover from the Economist issued in November during the Annapolis Conference.

Leaving my house at 7am in the morning, there was a rare fog in the air, so thick that I could not see my hand in front of me.... Strange start to such a historic day. I decided to walk to my UNRWA office to get a feel of the athmosphere in Jerusalem. While walking, the fog dissipated and I could see Israeli and American flags aligning Road No.1 (The Green Line). I did not see such flags in the Palestinian part of town. Not surprising though, as East Jerusalem is a Hamas stronghold.

On this photo you can see the construction of the controversial tram line (on the right of the photo) that goes through East Jerusalem which will eventually connect settlements there with West Jerusalem and any hope of Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine will be completely vanished.

Bush was due to arrive on noon that day, so while at work I was monitoring closely news websites who were reporting on his movements. That morning there were many helicopters and the streets were relatively deserted due to all the closures in and around the city.

The Haaretz online was reporting most diligently. I came across an interesting article (read article) which described the logistical and security arrangements of Bush's visit and the cost per hour: 25,000 USD!

The next day, some of my Palestinian colleagues were blocked in Bethlehem during his visit to the West Bank and mentioned that every street corner had either a US marine or a Palestinian policeman. The sewage entrances were sealed and checked for bombs below ground.
















Apparently Bush was driven to Ramallah, rather than flown there by helicopter. There are two checkpoints to enter Ramallah from Jerusalem, one is Kalandia and the other is the DCO checkpoint. The latter was set up on the other side of Ramallah to allow diplomats and UN officials to pass through to avoid the congestion at Kalandia, especially due to the increase of diplomatic representations to the Palestinian Authority who moved from Gaza to Ramallah 10 years ago. The fact that he used the DCO checkpoint, means that he must not have experienced the daily frustrations of the Palestinians having to wait for hours at Kalandia checkpoint, ambulances with women giving birth because they cannot pass through and wounded or ill people dying there because they did not reach the hospital in time.

Blair being the Quartet's Middle East Envoy, met with Bush during his stay here and mentioned that he was positive to have a two-state solution by 2009. The question I ask myself is, who is he really trying to convince of such a ridiculous statement?
What about the issue of land, water, refugees, settlements, borders, trade etc? Such questions will not be resolved by then and Israel will continue to build houses and settlements in East Jerusalem and without Jerusalem, Palestine cannot be a viable state, among other many concerns.