The Bush Doctrine may be pretty much in tatters at the end of his presidency, but at least he’s still unwilling to cross one symbolic line: Bush won’t visit Yasser Arafat’s tomb.

Palestinian Authority officials on Monday expressed deep disappointment after learning that US President George W. Bush, who is expected to visit Ramallah soon, does not intend to lay a wreath at Yasser Arafat’s tomb. …

Bush would not stop by Arafat’s newly-built mausoleum during his visit to Ramallah, a source in the US Consulate in Jerusalem told The Jerusalem Post. The PA has invested millions of dollars in building the mausoleum in the Mukata “presidential” compound.

“I’m not aware of any plan to lay a wreath at Arafat’s tomb,” the source said. “This issue was not raised during preparations for President Bush’s tour and I doubt if he would do so.”

To avoid embarrassing the Palestinians, Bush may meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem or at the Prime Minister’s Office in Ramallah.

In response, a senior PA official said, “Of course we are very disappointed, although we weren’t surprised.” The official said the PA leadership had decided not to make a big issue out of the visit to Arafat’s mausoleum to avoid creating a crisis with the US.

Almost all foreign leaders who visit the Mukata stop by Arafat’s tomb to pay respects or lay a wreath on it.

(Hat tip: Carl in Jerusalem.)

Melanie Phillips asks, “Mr. President, what has happened to you?”

The day after Annapolis, Palestinian Authority Television shows viewers a world without Israel.

Video here. (Windows Media format.)

Palestinians demonstrating their readiness for statehood, from British TV courtesy of the enigmatic kasper.

Here’s the Israeli-Palestinian statement read at the Annapolis “peace in our time” conference, a gauzy, insubstantial promise to reach an “agreement” by the end of 2008 by setting up a whole lot of bureaucratic negotiating committees and overseers.

Concluding with the road map that refused to die. Yes, four years later we’re unfolding the very same mildewed road map that Palestinians have never honored for one single day, after “agreeing” to it.

The parties also commit to immediately implement their respective obligations under the performance-based road map to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict issued by the quartet on 30 April, 2003 — this is called the road map — and agree to form an American, Palestinian and Israeli mechanism led by the United States to follow up on the implementation of the road map.

The parties further commit to continue the implementation of the ongoing obligations of the road map until they reach a peace treaty. The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitment of both sides of the road map.

UPDATE at 11/27/07 11:32:33 am:

Palestinian killed as police break up West Bank rallies.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian police killed one man in the West Bank on Tuesday as it broke up rallies against a US peace meeting, while Hamas supporters in Gaza rallied in force against the conference.

Palestinian security forces fired into the air and pummelled demonstrators with batons as they dispersed protests throughout the occupied West Bank against the meeting opening in the US city of Annapolis.

Riot police and other security forces moved in on members of the Hezb al-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation Party) as soon as they left mosques in the cities of Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron aiming to march in demonstrations.

In Hebron, 36-year-old Hisham Baradi died in hospital of a gunshot wound received in the melee. The circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear. At least 35 other people were wounded.

As the Annapolis peace sham begins, President Bush says it’s time to give the debased terror society of the Palestinians their very own shiny new state.

And this Haaretz article says he’s apparently also endorsing the “right of return” — or at least, their right to return to the delusional Palestinian state.

A force field of mass hallucination and wishful thinking has enveloped Washington.

WASHINGTON - In his address at the opening of the multi-national peace conference at Annapolis Tuesday, President George Bush will call for a settlement on the basis of two nation states, according to Israeli sources who have been briefed about the text. Bush will declare Israel the national home of the Jewish people, and Palestine as the national home of the Palestinians.

The president will also address the issue of the Palestinian refugees, and the need to resolve their suffering, saying that they can return to the Palestinian state.

Hamas is more realistic than the Bush administration; they’re saying Annapolis is a worthless charade that they plan to ignore when they roll over the West Bank.

Here comes another big push for Israel to make one-sided “gestures” to the Palestinian terrorist government of Mahmoud Abbas, so that the Annapolis “peace conference” has a chance of providing the desired boost to George W. Bush’s legacy: U.S. said unhappy with Israel positions.

JERUSALEM - The U.S. is pressuring Israel to declare a complete freeze on West Bank settlement construction ahead of a high-stakes peace conference, rejecting Israel’s long-standing policy of expanding existing communities, Israeli government officials say.

The U.S. also wants Israel to release more Palestinian prisoners than it plans to free before the meeting, expected to take place in Annapolis, Maryland, later this month, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the information. U.S. Embassy officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The U.S. has been urging Israel to make a series of gestures to the Palestinians ahead of the summit. American proposals have included an Israeli freeze on West Bank settlement construction and a large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel holds an estimated 9,000 such prisoners.

Israel maintains that it should be allowed to build housing in settlements to account for the “natural growth” of the existing settler population. The U.S. opposes settlement activity, but President Bush has signaled that he would support Israel’s position that it retain some settlements under a final peace deal.

Israel determined not to let peace meet fail: Peres.

ANKARA (AFP) - Israeli President Shimon Peres pledged Monday that his country would work for a tangible result at an upcoming US-sponsored Middle East peace conference, saying that the Jewish state is ready to make peace with the Palestinians.

“Israel has decided to make Annapolis a success, to bring an end to the conflict, to finally make peace between the Palestinians and ourselves,” Peres told a news conference here after talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.

“It takes time to make peace… but I believe we can make peace now with the Palestinians,” he said.

Here’s an alternative opinion from Hamas on the upcoming Annapolis “peace conference” between Israel and the Fatah party, at which Israeli PM Olmert seems determined to make serious concessions on the issue of withdrawing settlements in the West Bank: Hamas says it will seize West Bank if Israel withdraws.

Well, of course they will. Did anyone think otherwise? The Israeli Defense Forces are the only enemy Hamas respects. If the IDF pulls out with the settlements, Fatah can still put up a decent fight in their home areas, and Hamas will have to be astoundingly murderous and savage to take control. But we already know they’re capable of that.

JABALIYA, Gaza Strip (AFP) - A top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip warned on Friday that the Islamist movement would seize control of the West Bank if Israel withdrew from the occupied territory.

“Israel says the party in power in Ramallah (Fatah) serves its interests and if Israel withdraws from the West Bank, Hamas will take control. That’s true,” Mahmud Zahar told a party rally in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip. He called on Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party to “learn the lesson of what happened in Gaza” — where nearly five months ago Hamas routed the moderate leader’s loyalists and security officers in the coastal enclave.

Zahar also said an international meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that the United States is preparing to host later this month would fail.

“Meet each other as often as you want but you won’t get the homeland back or liberate the holy places. The autumn meeting does not frighten us,” he said. “The autumn leaves will fall but so will the yellow flags,” added Zahar, alluding to the colour of the Fatah party.

Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank, home of Israel’s “partner in peace” Mahmoud Abbas, tried to commit another act of random murder today: Israeli soldier wounded in West Bank attack.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli soldier was wounded in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday as he waited at a bus stop in the West Bank near a Jewish settlement, Israeli radio and police sources said.

The soldier, aged in his 20s, was just outside the Ariel settlement in the heart of the West Bank when gunmen drove by and opened fire on him before speeding off, public radio said.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militant group loosely allied to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s secular Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.

But no problem! Let’s give them half a billion dollars!

The American government is planning to transfer $410 million to the Palestinian Authority in an effort to strengthen its president, Mahmoud Abbas and prime minister, Salam Fayyad, Ynet reported Wednesday. 
 
The Bush administration has come to Abbas’ aid in the struggle against Hamas for public support, and is seeking to prove to the Palestinian people that choosing the path of peace pays off. …
 
Sources in the US government stress that the aid marks an unprecedented effort aimed at saving the PA led by Abbas. The US is thereby swerving from its traditional handovers and is handing over a sum approaching half a billion dollars.

Half of the American aid will be directed at infrastructures, $35 million will be transferred to the Food and Employment Bureau of the United Nations Refugees Works Agency (UNRWA). The remainder of the money will be combined with the PA’s continuous budget.

Also see:
Israellycool: Revenge of the “Moderates”
Israel Matzav: And again: Israeli seriously wounded in terror attack