Laura Bush is shielded by Israeli secu-
rity as supporters of Jonathan Pollard
shout at her during a visit to the
Western Wall.

Bumpy Ride

Angry words greet Laura Bush as she bears
olive branch to Mideast.

"It will take a lot of baby
steps and
sure that there
will be a few steps back-
ward on the way, but I
want to encourage the peo-
ple I met with earlier, the
women I just met with, that
the U.S. will do what they
can in this process."

ax

5/26

2005

20

DAN BARON
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem
he may have brought a message
of American goodwill toward
Muslims, but Laura Bush spent
a potential high point of her Middle
East tour fending off protests from
Palestinians angered by U.S. policies
— and from Israelis, too.
After arriving from Jordan, the U.S.
first lady toured Jerusalem on Sunday,
May 22, traveling from site to site
under heavy Israeli police and U.S.
Secret Service protection. In lieu of
speeches, she spoke to her media
entourage of the need to end the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"What an emotional place this is, as
we go from each one of these very,

S

very holy spots to the next," Mrs.
Bush said. "We're reminded again of
what we all want, what every one of us
prays for," adding, "What we all want
is peace."
Some want more. When Mrs. Bush
arrived at the Western Wall, demurely
dressed, to place a written prayer in
the cracks of its stones, she faced
dozens of Israeli demonstrators who
chanted that the United States should
free Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a
life sentence in a U.S. jail for spying
for Israel.
From there, it was up to the Temple
Mount for a tour of one of Islam's
most revered sites, the Dome of the
Rock. Most worshipers looked on pas-
sively, but there was heckling from
Palestinians angered at a Newsweek
magazine report —already retracted

— that U.S. interrogators had flushed
a copy of the Koran down a toilet in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to torment a
Muslim prisoner. "Koran, Koran,"
hissed one woman.
The Islamic terrorist group Hamas
posted a notice against Mrs. Bush on
the Internet. "We in principle don't
reject anyone's visit to the Al-Aqsa
Mosque [compound], but we see in
the visit of Mrs. Bush an attempt to
whitewash the face of the U.S., after
the crimes that the American inter-
rogators had committed when they
desecrated the Koran," it said.
Having earlier voiced regret at the
Newsweek report and the Muslim riot-
ing that has been linked to it, Mrs.
Bush took a more positive tack on the
Temple Mount, marveling at the beau-
ty of the shrine.
She also voiced hope for the U.S.-
led "road map" to Israeli-Palestinian
peace, which has been tested by
renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip.
President Bush hopes to bolster the
plan by hosting his Palestinian
Authority counterpart in the White
House on Thursday, May 26.
"The United States will do what it
can in this process," Laura Bush said.
"It also requires the work of the peo-
ple here, of the Palestinians and the
Israelis, to come to the table.
"We're reminded again of what
every one of us would want. What we
all want is peace and the chance that
we have right now to have peace, to
have a Palestinian state living by a
secure State of Israel, both living in
democracy, is as close as we've been in
a really long time."
Toward evening, the first lady trav-
eled to Jericho in the West Bank,
where she met with Palestinian
female leaders. In more polite terms,
they voiced dismay at Israeli security
measures — especially the security
barrier going up in the West Bank
— and the apparent U.S. approval
of them.
"It will take a lot of baby steps and
I'm sure that there will be a few steps
backward on the way, but I want to
encourage the people I met with earli-
er, the women I just met with, that
the U.S. will do what they can in this
process," Mrs. Bush said.

❑

