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25.06.02, 20:54
GAZA (Reuters) - Ordinary Palestinians branded U.S. President George W. Bush an obstacle to
peace on Tuesday, saying his Middle East policy speech would encourage Israel to go on occupying
the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"It was a silly speech by a silly and weak president," said teacher Ahmed A'lesh. "It would have been
better if Bush had shut up instead of inciting against (Palestinian President Yasser) Arafat and
branding us with 'terrorism'."
Bush, in the long-awaited speech on Monday night, said the United States would support the creation
of a Palestinian state but only when the Palestinians had a new leadership that was "not
compromised by terror."
"He could have done a lot to boost our hopes. He should have urged Israel to pull out immediately.
That way and only that way he could have ended the bloodshed," said Amer Khaled, a store owner in
Gaza City.
In Ramallah, one of seven West Bank cities under Israeli reoccupation and curfew after a wave of
Palestinian suicide bombings, Hussam al-Jamal called Bush's address disappointing and
unbalanced.
"It reflected a total bias toward Israel," he said.
Palestinians have long accused the United States of siding with Israel in conflict with Arab neighbors.
Palestinians, who had hoped against hope for a ringing Bush statement favoring Palestinian
independence, said it lacked a decisive call on Israel to pull troops out of conflict zones in Gaza and
the West Bank to lay the foundation of a new state.
They said Bush had no business demanding the ouster of Arafat, 73, who has spearheaded
Palestinian aspirations to statehood since the 1960s.
"We also believe the Americans deserve a better leader than Bush. He is an obstacle to peace," said
Ali Mohammad-Ali, a 35-year-old electrician.
PUZZLED BY LEADERS' RESPONSE
Ordinary Palestinians said they were puzzled by a cautious statement from the Palestinian Authority
welcoming Bush's speech as a "serious contribution" to peace efforts, while asking for more detail
and ignoring his call for a leadership change.
"I think we understood the speech in one way and the leadership understood it another way," said
Samar Hawash, a union activist in the West Bank city of Nablus, now under Israeli military curfew.
Bush's speech was also seen among Palestinians as a victory for right-wing Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's harsh military response to the uprising launched 21 months ago after negotiations on
terms for a Palestinian state foundered.
The uprising has been waged mainly by militant groups who have carried out suicide bombings that
have killed scores of civilians inside Israel, in addition to soldiers and Jewish settlers in the two
territories.
Many Palestinians say the bombings constitute their sole weapon against overwhelming Israeli
military superiority and the government's commitment to preserving Jewish settlements.
"Bush spoke in English but it was a true translation of Sharon's agenda," said Hawash.
Palestinians in all seven West Bank cities reoccupied by the Israeli army watched the Bush speech
live on television as Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles rumbled outside.
Israeli troops in Nablus ejected Nazeh Qasem, 45, and his family from their house so they could turn
it into a makeshift base. He said Israeli soldiers made fun of him as he moved into a neighbor's
house on Tuesday morning.
"I think the soldiers were laughing at us because of what Bush had said," he told Reuters by
telephone.
