Palestinians have every reason to be pleased with President George Bush's Rose Garden remarks to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Bush's words were strong and supportive of the Palestinian leader, demonstrating that the US would not countenance Israeli efforts to diminish Abu Mazen's accomplishments or his role as the democratically elected Palestinian president.

To make the point, early in Bush's comments, he referred to Abbas as “Mr President” four times in four consecutive sentences, a sharp reminder that the US president doesn't accept Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's insistence on referring to Abbas as “chairman”.

Bush also attempted to strengthen Abbas' hand with remarks clarifying US positions on Israel's responsibilities according to the roadmap and final status issues.

Attempting to take the sting out of the impact of the now infamous letter the US gave Sharon last year, noting that final agreements should recognize “demographic realities”, Bush now stated: “Any final status agreement must be reached between the two parties, and changes to the 1949 armistice lines must be mutually agreed to. A viable two-state solution must ensure contiguity of the West Bank, and a state of scattered territories will not work. There must also be meaningful linkages between the West Bank and Gaza. This is the position of the United States today, it will be the position of the United States at the time of final status negotiations.”

To his credit, Bush offered a bit more than words. He also arm wrestled hardline congressional leaders, many from his own party, winning agreement that $50 million of this year's $150 million in US aid appropriations for Palestinians would go directly to the PA. It may be a small victory, but a victory nevertheless.

Bush's Rose Garden endorsement comes on the heels of comments by US envoy Lieutenant General William Ward who just last week praised the PA's efforts in the security realm.

Said Ward: “The Palestinian Authority has taken essential steps to... restructure its forces, to cause a single line of authority to exist. That will enable a more effective mechanism for dealing with law and order on the streets as well as for combating terrorism.”

And in response to continuing Israeli complaints, Ward delivered this stinging rebuke: “You complain that the Palestinians are not fulfilling their commitments. But what about your commitments?”

But with all this, I must say that I am still not optimistic about prospects for the achievement of Middle East peace.

Just how little progress is being made and how deep the divide between Israelis and Palestinians remains was on display during a plenary session last week at the World Economic Forum in Amman. Participating in the panel were European, Israeli and Palestinian officials.

The Palestinian ministers made a rather compelling case of the continuing difficulties they are facing. They noted their concern that with the Gaza disengagement just weeks off, they still have not been substantially engaged by the Israelis and, therefore, still have no clear understanding of Israel's intentions. As a result of the unilateral Israeli approach, the Palestinians cannot make adequate economic, security or other logistic plans of their own. Given the uncertainties (Will the Palestinians have access and aggress from the Gaza area? Will the passage to Egypt be open and under Palestinian control? Will they be able to begin building a seaport and rebuild their airport?), Palestinians have no basis upon which to attract investors to participate in post-Israeli withdrawal development efforts.

At the same time, the Palestinians note that Israel's continuing expansionist activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem only serve to rile the situation and undercut the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to maintain public support for peace-making.

While the World Economic Forum's very capable moderator made a determined effort to press the participating Israeli ministers on each of these Palestinian concerns, the Israelis responded as expected, by charging that the Palestinians had to do more to crack down on terror and dismantle the “infrastructure of terror” before real cooperation would occur. None of this, I must say, inspired much hope.

As troubling as the persistent Israeli-Palestinian gap was, even more disconcerting was the near total disconnect of the European participants from the reality of the situation. Even when responding to questions, it appeared as if they were reading from prepared scripts. It was as if having abdicated responsibility for the politics of the peace process to the US, the Europeans needed to assure themselves that “all is well”.

With Gaza suffering from poverty, chronic unemployment (youth unemployment is astronomical at about 80 per cent), and lacking infrastructure, Gazans can't and won't be able to wait for months or years after the Israeli withdrawal for signs of real change in their lives.

And if Sharon persists in his unilateral approach, refusing to provide tangible benefits to the PA, the Palestinians' ability to govern effectively will be jeopardized.

In this context, Bush's strong words of support for Abu Mazen are good, but as the Palestinian advocacy group, Miftah, noted in its evaluation of the Washington meeting, strong words need concrete actions to make a difference. Words of praise for the Palestinians are important, but for the US to make a difference, a firm hand must be applied to change Israeli behavior if there is to be progress towards peace.

Last week, Israel barred a UNESCO fact-finding mission from entering the country, charging that the Palestinians had ‘politicized’ the mission before it had even arrived. The mission was tasked with looking into conditions of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, something Israel apparently found to be very threatening.

Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.

Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away. A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance. Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.

The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.

The sad truth is that, on the surface, Israel has succeeded in this to a large extent. Pockets of Jewish settlers now live in the heart of Muslim quarters and aim to take over more and more. Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center. The train, of course, is not meant to service the Palestinian population but rather to connect Jewish neighborhoods and settlements in the city, but the area confiscated from Shufat and Beit Hanina for its construction simply fell into the plan.

What the UNESCO mission would not have seen even if they made it into the Old City is the overall humiliation that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem must endure on a daily basis because of Israel’s military occupation. Trips to the Israeli ministry of interior must be made just to prove that one lives in the city for fear that their residency rights may be revoked; young Palestinian men are stopped randomly by Israeli soldiers to check their ID cards or just to harass them, and settlers are always given the luxury of maximum security whenever they walk the streets. If settlers want to march through the city, the Palestinians are told to close their shops, are barred for hours from reaching their homes if they run along the path of the march and are always the ones blamed if any kind of confrontation between the two sides breaks out.

Jerusalem is being squeezed by these measures more and more each day. But there is always that glimmer of hope, that strength that shines through proving that all is not lost. On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.

The sight of the Palestinian flag waving at the entrance to Damascus Gate was a breath of fresh air. All is not lost and never will be because hope is eternal and determination and strength come from a never-ending spring.

That day at Damascus Gate is what all Palestinians must keep in their minds’ eye in spite of the daily oppression of the occupation. No matter how many missions Israel bars from entering or how many houses it takes over, there will always be those brave souls who, despite the risks, will always raise Palestine’s flag.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

There is no point falling into the pit of countering the claims being made about the death of Mohammed Al Durra, the 12-year old boy from Gaza whose videotaped killing was seen around the world. The boy, crouching in fear behind is equally afraid father as bullets whizzed around them, was killed admittedly by the Israeli army. Later, the army recanted after investigating the tape, saying Durra was killed by Palestinian fire instead. Well now, Israel is changing its story altogether, saying he was not killed at all. In fact, he was probably not even wounded and the French channel that broadcast the footage and brought some pretty bad rap to Israel, had most likely filmed a charade.

The reason why I will not waste my time countering this claim is that even with the great lengths the Israeli government went to to prove that the boy was never killed, it could not provide any irrefutable proof that Mohammed Al Durra – who would be 25 now – is still alive. No pictures, no testimonies, no hospital or morgue officials giving statements to refute his death, have been provided. Only sketchy information about ‘poor quality footage’ and the fact that it seems as though the boy moved his arm after he had slumped over his father following the explosion.

My point is this: indeed, Mohammed Durra’s death was at least one of the catalysts that fueled the second Intifada, and thus, was an important event in the history of the Palestinians. However, more importantly – most importantly to me –is the fact that this is about a boy who died in sheer terror, with his distraught father futilely trying to shelter him from the barrage of bullets coming their way.

Mohammed Al Durra was a boy, with a life, a family and friends. He died a horrible death and now he is being made to die a second one. I did not know Mohammed or his family, but I can only imagine how awful it must be for them to read these claims now and feel the pain of losing their child all over again. If nothing else, this is disrespect for human life of the worst kind.

Some may postulate that the rehashing of the Durra case is a personal jab at the French cameraman who shot the footage, Charles Enderlin. Perhaps. But as a Palestinian who has seen the pain endured by numerous families who receive the horrible news that their sons or daughters have been killed by the Israeli army, my concern is for his family and for his memory. He should be left to rest in peace. If Israel has axes to grind with French journalists or with the international community for holding it accountable for its actions, then so be it. Israel is not lacking in the public relations department.

That being said, there is just one decent thing left to do. Leave Mohammed Al Durra and his memory alone.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.

This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.

It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.

But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from their homes have mostly passed, longing for their beloved homes.

We cannot turn back time. What was lost has been altered, destroyed, changed or taken over by Israel’s newcomers. What we can do is hold on to the right to be recognized, for the injustice to be rectified in word and deed and for Palestine to never be lost in our minds or hearts.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.