United States President George Bush does not plan to visit the tomb of former Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat during his upcoming visit to Israel, PA officials learned Monday. PA officials expressed disappointment with the decision. Most foreign leaders who visit the PA leadership visit Arafat’s tomb.
Shortly before Bush’s planned arrival, PA officials announced that they had captured a group of Hamas terrorists who had planned to bomb an Israeli city. The PA plans to use the incident to show that PA forces are fighting terrorism. PA officials will ask Bush to tell Israel to end all Jewish construction in territories that were under Jordanian rule from 1948 to 1967, including Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Har Homa.