Bush Hounded out of Mosque

Worshippers Hound Laura Bush Out of Jerusalem Mosque

PEJ News - In further efforts to boost her political profile, First Lady, Laura Bush is currently conducting a "good-will" visit of the middle-east. But, good will was not apparent in the Dome of the Rock mosque, today. When Bush and her entourage entered the holy shrine, outraged worshippers harangued her, shouting "Koran, Koran" and demanding she leave the mosque. -{ape}

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Worshippers Hound Laura Bush
out of Jerusalem Mosque
C.L. Cook
May 22, 2005

Laura Bush kicked off her goodwill trip to the middle-east Friday. The timing could not be worse for her. The scandalous revelations by Newsweek magazine of practiced desecration of the Holy Koran by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba's Camp X-Ray prison has ignited anti-U.S. demonstrations across the Muslim world, (Newsweek's subsequent retraction of elements of the story has done little to appease broad public outrage) and a recent escalation of hostilities in Gaza over the ongoing Israeli occupation both conspire to sink Bush's goodwill efforts.

Bush's arrival at the al-Haram al-Sharif mosque, the highly sensitive shrine claimed by both Muslims and Jews and the flashpoint of the current Intafada, with an Israeli and American secret service escort was too much for surprised worshippers already in the mosque. One worshipper cried out, "You are not welcome here. Why are you hassling our Muslims? How dare you come in here?" Soon, dozens were shouting her out of the mosque. Israeli security and U.S. Secret Service agents surrounded the embattled first lady and began pushing back the gathering crowd.

Things didn't go much better for Bush at the Western Wall, a site holy to Jews. While placing a prayer in a crevice in the wall, Bush was accosted by Jews upset at the arrest and imprisonment of Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard. The demonstrators, identified by Reuters reporter Adam Entous as "Nationalist Jews" shouted and waved placards. For her part, Bush acknowledged the damage to United States' image in wake of prison torture abuses and the war in Iraq. She said the protests reveal, "what an emotional place this is as we go from each one of these very, very holy spots to the next."

She made a call for peace in the region, saying "We're reminded again of what we all want, what every one of us prays for...what we all want is peace."

While visiting Jericho, a group of Palestinian women granted audience complained to Bush about Israeli occupation policies. Bush reassured them the so-called "Roadmap" could work and that, "The United States will do what they can in this process. It also requires the work of the people here, of the Palestinians and the Israelis, to come to the table."