Olmert Keeps Bibi at Arm's Length
CBNNews.com
January 7, 2008
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Though visiting heads of state normally meet with the leader of the opposition party, U.S. President George Bush won't be sitting with Likud chairman and opposition leader Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu during his stay in Jerusalem.
Likud members suspect that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is behind the snub, but a Kadima official offered another explanation.
"At the White House, they think he's a liar because of his behavior as prime minister," he said.
Likud officials called that assessment "ridiculous" and pointed out the irony of Bush meeting with Gilad Sharon, the youngest son of former Prime Minister Arik Sharon.
Sharon is the only Israeli opposed to the U.S.-backed peace plan who'll be talking with George Bush.
Bush asked to meet with Sharon, allegedly to talk about how he runs his father's 1,000-dunam property in the south.
In Sunday's edition of Yediot Aharonot, Sharon, who writes a regular column for the paper, called the U.S. president Israel's "true friend." But he also criticized the Olmert government for its weak stance against Palestinian terrorism.
"The prime minister and Cabinet ministers talk about how important it is to strengthen Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas], while we bury the people who died as a result of strengthening him," wrote Sharon.
Yehiel Leiter, director of One Jerusalem, a group opposed to Olmert's plans to re-divide the city, said Bush bought into Olmert's strategy.
"Bush has fallen into Olmert's trap and has been given bad advice," Leiter said.
"It's one thing to support the prime minister. It's quite another to ignore the opposition," he said.
On Tuesday, One Jerusalem is sponsoring a human-chain event during which Israelis opposed to the division of Jerusalem will encircle the capital's Old City.
Natan Sharansky, who has been Bush's guest at the White House, is one of the featured speakers at Tuesday's rally.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
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