"Bush is in town."

“Bush is in town,” is a cry on the lips of every Palestinian living in Jerusalem.  If we heard it once, we heard it a hundred times – “Bush is in town.”

Tonight as we walked over to a hotel to have dinner with a group from Western Theological Seminary, Sally and I met a young man who softly spoke to us as we met him on the street – “Bush.  Bush.” He said.  I’m not sure what we were supposed to take from that, but take it from me, it wasn’t good.  And we don’t take that kind of thing personally.  It’s not about us.  As far as I know, the only thing this young man knows about us is that we are from the United States.  It is about the feelings that most Palestinians have toward America.  He was reminding us that “Bush is in town” – as if we didn’t already know.

So President Bush is in Jerusalem tonight and the whole city is on alert.  There are soldiers everywhere, and not the fresh, young faces we see on prominent Christian holidays, the sweet young ones who put such a good face on the Israeli Army.  No, these are the career soldiers, the ones you’d want on guard if you were the President of the United States visiting the place where half of the people think well of you and the other half try not to think of you at all.

Sally and I arrived back in Jerusalem yesterday, so today I had to endure the comments of our neighbors that we must have come in on Air Force 1.  “You fly in with Bush?”

“No.”

“You having dinner with Bush?”

“No.”

“You like Bush?”

“It doesn’t matter whether I like him or not, he’s my President.”

“He’s in town.”

“Yeah, so I’ve been told.”

You can’t escape politics in this place, but if you are wise, you can avoid most fights.  Today, I avoided every fight into which I was invited.  I think that most Palestinians don’t want to fight with me either, or anyone else for that matter.  I think that most Palestinians are hoping that President Bush indicates, in some way or another, a degree of respect for them, and an acknowledgment that something is not right about the situation here.

I hope they get that.  Maybe tomorrow in Bethlehem or Ramallah (biblical Bethel).  Or maybe Friday in Capernaum or around the Sea of Galilee.  I hear these places are known for miracles. 

God knows we need one.