RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Barack Obama roadshow kept up its grueling pace Wednesday. The usual delays and frustrations that typify life in the "Muddled East" were effectively excised for the senator's 36-hour visit to the Holy Land. He kept to a strict timetable with about 100 war-zone-weary journalists in his wake.
Considering that Senator Obama arrived barely nine hours after security personnel shot and killed arogue backhoe driver near the presidential hopeful's hotel in downtown Jerusalem, after the man attacked a bus and several cars with his yellow monster machine -- the second such road rage this month by a construction worker from East Jerusalem -- security was efficient and brisk.
Indeed the heightened security made it even tougher than usual to be "off the bus" and "out of the press bubble," with little chance of access. The mini-welcome rally organized by the local "Israel for Obama" supporters was brief. There was no time to tell if Obama was charismatic, cerebral, or jet-lagged.
From Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem to the traumatized town of Sderot near Gaza, Obama kept on the move. He crossed a checkpoint to the West Bank's de facto capital, Ramallah, to meet for less than an hour with the U.S.-backed moderates, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayad, as part of his charm offensive. As a formal courtesy, this was a notch up from John McCain's phone call in March.
But Obama spent the bulk of his trip reassuring Israelis about his commitment to their security. He talked tough about possible sanctions against Iran, and warned that, if elected, he'd take "no options off the table." (Huh? that's practically a Republican war cry.) A strategy of "big sticks and big carrots" to get Iran to halt its nuclear program seemed purposefully vague.
In Ramallah, armed security troops in camouflage uniforms and berets were lined up every ten yards all along the approach to the Mukata'a, the Palestinian Authority headquarters. Guards at three different entrances barred OffTheBus from the premises. Turns out the phrase "citizen reporter" doesn't quite translate in this tense atmosphere. We offered water to the men, then hit the road.
We drove around in the heat searching for Obama supporters or fans, but even at venues with names in English, such as the Stars & Bucks cafe or Supermarket Baghdad, there were no Gobama banners to be seen. When a local radio newscast announced that the Senator had "confirmed to President Mahmoud Abbas that he will be a constructive partner in the peace process" and would "not waste a minute" if elected, there was little visible reaction in a patio cafe. Most customers just kept sucking their narghila water pipes. Talk is just talk, no matter how it's parsed.
Later, while we were stalled in traffic at an Israeli checkpoint, the candidate and media pack moved on to Sderot. It's a literal boom town -- struck by thousands of rockets and mortars after Israel pulled its settlements out of the adjacent Gaza strip two years ago.
Since Egypt arranged a temporary ceasefire between Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces last month, these crude rockets have nearly stopped falling. Obama inspected a hole blasted through the roof of the Amar family house by a Qassam rocket fired by "Iran-backed terrorists," as the locals phrased it. The owner had rescued his handicapped wife by dragging her wheelchair through blazing rubble, and now the house is uninhabitable. The senator was visibly moved by their plight.
"If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, " Obama told reporters at the Sderot police station. He said he "would expect Israel to do the same thing."
Oddly, John McCain had met the very same family back in March. That hole obviously is quite impressive.
Perhaps time does move at a different pace in the Middle East. America's old fairness doctrine, which once demanded equal time be given to the rival political parties, still appears to be practiced by the Amars. If only the same consideration could be be applied to both sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, maybe the peace process could be jump-started after all.
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Donald Macintyre of the Independent makes a crucial point:
It's perhaps lucky for Barack Obama that he was safely on his way to Berlin by the time the Israeli daily Maariv reported that the military had approved construction of a new settlement in the Jordan Valley. For had he been asked about it Mr Obama, on a mission to convince Israel of his unequivocal friendship, could hardly have conformed with existing US policy without criticising the plan.
Why does the Dem candidate keep jumping through the usual hoops? Yup, he wants to get elected.
With that being said, I only wish Obama would visit more than just Ramallah. How about visiting the "security fence" and addressing how it violates Palestinian human rights or that it's against the ICJ ruling in 2006? Why didn't Obama visit a refugee camp or a home bombed out or bulldozed out by Israeli security forces? That represents the every day life for Palestinians. That what Obama needs to go and do and that's what the media consumers need to see. We in AMerica only get one side of the issue. Everything is about Israeli security. Not saying that's a bad thing but it's upsetting always to see Palestine's needs and Palestine's security pushed to the wayside and not treated as equally as important. If we saw more of that, we'd get a more accurate picture of the Mideast. At least IMO.
No wonder the inhabitants of Ramallah slept thru his visit...
As for undivided Jerusalem, I doubt it. It could become an international city, sacred to 3 religions, and both Israel and Palestine could locate their capitals there. But it will probably have to be divided until they can learn to live together. (I've read that even the various Christian groups come to blows over rights to their sacred sites, so don't hold your breath.)
Obama visited 3 walls this week -- the former Berlin wall, the wailing wall, and the wall that carves up the west bank. Bet he had nothing to say about that one coming down, and he didn't pray at it, but probably should have.
You're so right Barack... that's exactly what Israel has been doing for almost 60years - to the palestinians.
"If my country was occupied I'd fight back too" - George W Bush.
You're so right George; Palestine is occupied, almost 60years.
Why is the life of a palestinian worth nothing?
I don't live in the U.S anymore but my family do, and they all intend to vote for Barack. I hope from the bottom of my heart that he will finally implement a fear approach to this scourge, that under his leadership this horror will reach a just and fair climax.
Once you are labeled as being violent, then it will be used to put fear in the hearts of folks that are not you. And when they kill you, no one will care because they feel that you deserve it and was asking for it.
Unfortunately, this has gone on so long, that it is probably impossible for the Palestinians to change how they are viewed by the Western world.
“When Arafat returned to Gaza in 1993, per capita income for Palestinians was running at about $3000, dwarfing that of their neighbours in Egypt, Jordan and Syria. The figure now stands at $934, with foreign aid making up well over half of that amount.
The collapse of the economy coincided with Israel’s decision to shut the door to Palestinians entering Israel in an attempt to stop the suicide-bombers killing its citizens. The immediate cost for the Palestinians was 100,000 jobs….”
In light of this, is it not more accurate to say that it is the terror intifada that has been the greatest cause of poverty amongst the Palestinians, and not the Israeli presence? To claim the Israeli presence has caused the Palestinians to be poor is demonstrably untrue. Surely it is understandable that Israel closes its border to potential suicide bombers when suffering an onslaught of attacks.
I hope he is able to get some sleep soon.
And I hope the Berlin speech goes well for him.
Obama '08
p.s. McCain could have never gone to as many places and met with as many leaders that Obama has in such a short time. Obama is much more qualified to be our next president than McCain. McCain is too old!