Gaza City: Palestinians in Gaza staged small protests against George W. Bush yesterday, underscoring the deep political split with West Bank who have welcomed the visit of the US president as an important gesture to the Palestinians.
Bush said yesterday he sees a new opportunity for peace, but many Palestinians expect little of the US leader, and opinion polls show the vast majority doubts a peace deal can be negotiated.
The US administration is widely perceived in the Palestinian territories as a friend and ally of Israel, at the expense of the Palestinians. In Hamas-ruled Gaza, even supporters of Abbas were critical of the US leader.
Some 200 supporters allied with Abbas' Fatah movement and other non-Islamic groups urged Bush to abandon what they said was his pro-Israel bias.
"We call on President Bush in his visit to adopt an equal standard, and not to continue the biased policy in favour of the occupation government," a senior Fatah leader in Gaza, Zakariya Al Agha, told the marchers.
Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said Bush's visit is important as a show of support for the negotiations.
"We don't expect President Bush to come here and conduct the negotiations between us and the Israelis, and we don't expect President Bush to make the decisions required by us and the Israelis," he said.
Hamas was to hold a large protest rally later yesterday. In a run-up to the protest, dozens of Hamas supporters marched through the streets, denouncing Bush as a war criminal.
Artists affiliated with Hamas were seen working on a large painting of Bush, portraying him as the head of the snake being hit with a shoe by a Palestinian child.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said Abbas should not rely on the United States or "run after the illusion of so-called peace".
In the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, about 20 masked supporters of an Al Qaida-inspired group, the ‘Army of the Nation', displayed weapons in a first public appearance.
A spokesman for the group said Bush was "not welcome" in the Palestinian territories.
Three Palestinians killed
Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian fighter and two civilians in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, witnesses and medical workers said.
They said an Israeli missile landed near a residential building in the border town of Beit Hanoun, killing a man and a woman, both of them civilians. Five other people were wounded.
Contribution: UAE gives $41.6m to PNA
The UAE has transferred its full contribution of $41.6 million (about Dh151 million) to the Palestinian National Authority.
The payment comes in keeping with the resolution approved by the 19th Arab Submit held in Riyadhin March.
— WAM
