Bush visit to Amman angers Jordanians
Source: Reuters
By Suleiman al-Khalidi AMMAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Jordanian Yusef Mustafa Nimer can barely contain his anger at U.S. President George W. Bush's visit. "This is a very sad day. Bush has become a symbol of bigotry and injustice towards Arabs and Muslims," the 32-year-old engineer said just hours before Bush was due to arrive in Amman on Wednesday. "There he is slaughtering my brothers in Palestine and Iraq and is now hosted and feted by our leaders. I am ashamed." Bush will hold a two-day crisis summit with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. It will be Bush's first trip to the Jordanian capital as president. He will also hold talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, Washington's staunchest Arab ally. But that close political relationship cannot not mask the anti-Bush feelings on the streets of Amman. "It is a hated name ... Bush has been practising black vengeance," said Sheikh Hamza Mansour, a prominent Islamist. The core source of anger for Jordanians is what they see as the Bush's administration's overriding support for Israel in the Jewish state's conflict with the Palestinians. A majority of Jordanians are Palestinians who settled in the country after the creation of Israel in 1948. Anti-American sentiment also grew after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. In a country where security is tight and demonstrations are rare, protests against Bush's visit have been low-key. More than 1,000 protested on Wednesday. Some Jordanians also sprayed slogans on walls in Amman that read: "Down with America" and "Go home Bush the murderer". For Jordanians of Palestinian origin such as Munzr Faraj, Bush is to blame for Israel's crushing offensive in Gaza. That assault ended on the weekend after a ceasefire was agreed. "Israel and America are two sides of the same coin," said Faraj, 72, in his concrete-and-corrugated iron home in the Baqaa refugee camp north of Amman. His grandchildren are third generation refugees in Jordan, like many other Palestinians whose families settled here after successive Arab-Israeli wars. Faraj echoed the despondency of refugees, who pour scorn on Bush's pledges to address the plight of the Palestinians. "I am afraid we have been forgotten and denied our rights by the Americans, who are lying to us for the sake of Israel's survival," said Mazen Mohammad, a shopkeeper in the bustling camp, one of the largest for Palestinians in the Middle East. In the squalid camp's narrow alleys, graffiti echoes militant groups' calls for armed struggle and praise of suicide bombers who kill Israeli civilians. Even in affluent parts of Amman, Jordanians say Bush's policies in Iraq have radicalised youths. "Bush has created a generation of terrorists in reaction to his arrogance," said Mohammad Shahwan, the head of a centrist political party.
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