Bush's Visit: The View from Ramallah

George Bush landed in Israel yesterday on his first Presidential trip to the country. He participated in a press conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in what both men termed a "historic" and "monumental" occasion. After listening to both so-called leaders make their opening comments and field questions from journalists, the only groundbreaking revelation I could register was that the naiveté of President Bush, either real or a charade, served the agenda of only one party in the region -- Hamas. The radical Islamists at Hamas could not have recruited a better cheerleader.

My opinion may be extreme, but then again, I live in an extremely violent limbo under Israeli military occupation, shaped by a policy both men continuously refuse to call by its true name -- state terror.

Again, my opinion is certainly subjective -- but then again, I started my day by reading a communiqué from the real world: a report issued from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs titled Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report: Power Shortages in the Gaza Strip (8 January 2008). The report states the background of the issue: In June 2006, the Israeli Air Force bombed the power plant in the Gaza Strip destroying all six transformers and cutting 43% of Gaza's total power capacity. In another report, the World Food Program says 70% of the population of Gaza has to choose between food or shelter.

For President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert, the fallout expected from the information in these disturbing reports, released one day before President Bush arrived in Israel, was not even worthy of worry. As a matter of fact, the reality that Israel has placed over a million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, over 50% of them children, in the dark and under a draconian siege did not even make it to the footnotes of either leader's comments.

Bush and Olmert did send one united message to the world. The two-state solution was still the aim of the negotiations. Reading between the lines, we can infer that the specter of a single state, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, is the most frightening vision of all. The terror inspired by the notion of Palestinians (Muslims and Christians) and Israelis (Jews, Muslims, and Christians) living side by side with equal national and civil rights, has never been so apparent since the struggle in South Africa to end racist white supremacy under Apartheid. To ensure that a one-state solution does not materialize, the US and Israel talk about a two-state solution, but meantime, the US bankrolls Israel as it continues to create facts on the ground that make a viable Palestinian state impossible.

Prime Minister Olmert was clear beyond a doubt: President Bush has been very, very good for Israel. He was nearly jumping for joy as he praised President Bush for increasing the comprehensive US aid package to Israel to a whopping $30 billion.

The issue of Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem, was raised repeatedly by journalists asking questions. Again, Olmert made no excuses; Jerusalem is different, he said, and no one should expect settlements there to stop. As for the other settlements, he said it was complicated and began elucidating the lexicon of "outposts," "population centers," etc. If only this entire settlement enterprise were not threatening Israel's very own citizens and future, Olmert's blather would have made excellent comedy material -- not to mention President Bush's weird facial expressions as he sought to evade the barrage of questions asking if the US was ready to apply pressure on Israel to make good on its talk of freezing settlements. The best President Bush was able to come up with impromptu was to remind us all that Israel has been promising for over four years to stop settlements but has yet to do so. Even that came with a chuckle, as if the human tragedy these settlements are causing was a side show. Rarely has Mr. Bush given so persuasive an impression of being detached not just from the facts but from any sort of empathy for the victims of this appalling situation.

All in all, it looks like President Bush came to Israel to speak about Iran. Not only did Mr. Bush seem much more enthused about threatening Iran from Israel; his glaring inability to articulate a basic understanding of the Palestinian-Israeli issue left seasoned Israeli journalists chuckling in disbelief at the President's replies.

Well, next President Bush arrives in my Israeli-occupied city of Al-Bireh/Ramallah. He plans to land two blocks away from my home, in a sports field where I happen to be developing as a commercial project for the Quaker school. We were notified today that our street will be one of the many that will be under 100% lockdown. We were advised we would be risking our lives if we went to our rooftop to watch the charade unfold. Public notices from the Palestinian police chief warned that absolutely no protests would be tolerated. In short, we were told to stay indoors. Even our local newspaper advised a civil society campaign I work with that an ad we submitted to be published in today's newspaper, conveying a message to Bush via a cartoon, was refused! because Bush was in town. So much for running a business, economic development, and freedom of the press. So much for Palestinian democracy too.

Instead of falsely raising expectations of Palestinians and Israelis yet again, the US should be calling the world to support nonviolent resistance against 60 years of dispossession and 40 years of military occupation by calling for a strategy of boycotting, divestment, and sanctions until Israel ends its illegal campaign of terror and occupation.