George W. is Near

As many of you know, George W. Bush is in the region this week, making his first visit to Israel/Palestine since becoming president in the hopes of helping to forge some kind of peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. One would think this would be big news here and cause for much hope. After all, this isn't Condoleezza Rice or some other lesser representative of the American government coming over for vaguely purposed "talks" or relationship building initiatives. This is the leader of the purported most powerful nation in the world finally deciding to push harder for peace by visiting the region just a few weeks after meeting with Arab leaders in America to push for peace there. He even said in Jerusalem--in reference to the land we in America call the West Bank and the Arabs call Palestine--that there must be "an end to the occupation that began in 1967," that there must be a home there for the Palestinian people.

However, while I haven't discussed Bush's visit with many people here, I am positive that most Jordanians--approximately 60 percent of whom are of Palestinian origin--are somewhat less than optimistic about it. Over the years, they have seen a lot of world leaders come and go and a lot of unimplemented agreements made. Just within this decade, there has been the end of the end of the seven year long "Oslo Peace Process," the European, American and United Nations backed "Road Map for Peace" and the Saudi Arabian sponsored "Arab Peace Initiative." I think the one friend I did discuss Bush's visit with--also Palestinian by origin--speaks for the majority of the people here. "There have been a lot of people coming and going, travelling, making speeches, talking, having meetings," he said. "I don't know what they talk about in those meetings." He doesn't expect much from all those meetings, and instead of exciting him or giving him hope, he is uninterested in them. "They are playing," he said. "We are bored."