tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358737.post-76974817955354736322008-01-12T03:41:00.000-08:002008-01-22T05:33:23.872-08:002008-01-22T05:33:23.872-08:00Details are now being revealed about the preparations for President Bush's visit to Ramallah. In addition to closing down parts of the city, President Bush's costly visit (which included repairing parts of the Muqata so that Bush would not have to see Israel's devastation of the building) the team made a reportedly number of demands on Abbas's staff:<br /><br />* President Bush would NOT stand at attention for the Palestinian national anthem (even though he stood at attention for the Israeli anthem;<br />* President Bush would NOT go to Bethlehem with President Abbas, thereby reinforcing the claim that Abbas is the President of Ramallah<br />* President Bush would NOT place a wreath of President Arafat's grave;<br />* President Bush did NOT want to see any pictures of Arafat. It is reported that President Bush's team asked Abbas's team to remove President Arafat's photograph from the wall of the meeting room where Presidents Bush and Abbas would be meeting. Although Chaim is still trying to determine whether the photo was actually removed or simply covered up by drapes (it certainly didn't appear in any of the photo ops), it appears as though someone from the Whitehouse staff was not as detail-oriented as needed: one photo of the late President actually escaped the watchful eyes of the protocol team. Take a look at this.<br /><br /><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_KTdNlx_kNpE/R4isA6E8hwI/AAAAAAAAAB0/eio1reH-cCU/s1600-h/bush2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_KTdNlx_kNpE/R4isA6E8hwI/AAAAAAAAAB0/eio1reH-cCU/s320/bush2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5154558905115510530" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Tarboush tip: Diondianahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03479796915739815730noreply@blogger.com