JTA: President Bush left Israel after pledging to come back to help celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary.”I intend to come back to help the peace process move forward but also to celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary,” Bush told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres before boarding Air Force One on Friday after completing bhis first presidential visit to the region. Israel launches year-long 60th anniversary celebrations on May 8.

Bush is in the region to promote renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. He met Wednesday and Thursday with leaders of both peoples; on Friday he laid a wreath at Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem.

“I would hope as many people in the world would come to this place,” Bush said at Yad Vashem. “It would be a sobering reminder that evil exists and a call that when we find evil we must resist it. It also is a — I guess I came away with this impression, that I was most impressed that people, in the face of horror and evil, would not forsake their God, and in the face of unspeakable crimes against humanity, brave souls young and old stood strong for what they believe.”

Bush, wise as ever, has said he will return to help the peace proccess and join the celebrations for Israel’s 60th birthday. Now anyone with the tiniest understanding of the Palestinian cause will know that Israel is celebrating its independence declaired in 1948. A time the Palestinians call Al-Nakba (the catastrophe). They call it this because before and after 1948 they were ethnically cleansed to make way for the Jewish State Bush will celebrate. In other words, Bush is saying to Palestinians - I’m coming back to help secure you peace, but while I’m there I’m going to celebrate your ethnic cleansing.

This is just another example of how there is no real peace process, if there was Bush would not celebrate at this event. He has no understanding or care for the Palestinian side. These meetings are designed to try and force Israel’s demands onto the Palestinians. Its possible that there will now be a two state solution because Israel fears a One State solution based on a South African style campaign to get equal voting rights for Arabs (to paraphrase Olmert). This however is no longer a viable option for the Palestinians as so much of there land has been stolen or fragmented.

Disapproval has also been voiced by the Arab league, demonstrating how damaging this move will be to any real Middle East peace -

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Arab states are demanding that the United States clarify the purpose of a planned return trip by US President George W. Bush to Israel in May to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel, an Emirati newspaper reported on Sunday.The Arab League and a number of Arab governments want the American government to explain the nature of the trip, as May will also mark the 60th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, the Catastophe of the violent expulsion of Palestinians from 1948 Palestine.The UAE-based Al-Khalij newspaper said that Arab states have communicated their disappointment to the Americans over the divisive plan.

I presume he will be used to attract as many allies as possible to Israel’s meeting of world leaders to celebrate the birthday.

I’ll write more on this later.

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