Daley Visits Israel, But Not The West Bank
Sources Say The Mayor Was Advised Against Visiting The West Bank
by Jay Levine
Reporting
CBS2chicago.com
Mayor Richard M. Daily
Video
(CBS) CHICAGO Mayor Daley began the next leg of his trip to the Middle East Wednesday after a stopover in Jordan.
The mayor is now in Israel with his entourage, where he was apparently awed by the sights of Jerusalem.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine is traveling with the mayor.
A first trip to Israel is impressive to any Christian, Muslim or Jew, and Mayor Daley was no exception.
But, just like most politicians here, he had to walk a fine line.
He began as so many other do: At the hallowed Western Wall. It’s the site of the first Jewish temple, where Jews from all over the world come to tuck pieces of paper between its stones with people’s names and prayers.
They mayor had his all ready.
"On behalf of my parents, my sister, Ellie, and, of course, my son, Kevin. Also a prayer for Israel, a prayer for the United States, and a prayer for peace," Daley said.
The visit to the wall paid tribute to his hosts. But the walk through the stations of the cross on Via Dolorosa had special meaning to this devout Catholic.
"Here, this guy Simon, which is a Jewish name from Karenia, helped him to carry the cross," a guide told the Daleys.
At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, among the holiest sites of Christianity, Mayor Daley, his wife and his daughter lit candles at the alter built at the site of the crucifixion.
The Daleys, especially wife Maggie, seemed in awe of the whole experience.
"To think of all of the millions of people who have walked these streets, and, over all these many years, it's truly overwhelming," she said.
The mayor did not visit the third major site in the old city: Temple Mount. It’s just above the Western Wall, with its historic Muslin mosques. Nor will Daley visit the area now walled off from Israel: The West Bank, homeland of so many other Chicagoans.
"Might Palestinians in Chicago perceive your coming to Israel, and not the place where they, where there hearts are, a slight to them?" Levine asked the mayor.
Daley replied: "No, I don't think so because we have Palestinians in our delegation to Jordan, we visited with Palestinians and Jordanians, no, it's not at all, whatsoever."
Sources say the mayor wanted to visit the West Bank but was discouraged by the state department for diplomatic and security reasons.
One security expert, Chicago native Jaakov Katz, isn’t surprised.
"Daley's caught in the middle, and it seems to me that he's trying to place nice with his Israeli hosts. If he wanted to travel to Ramallah, and meet with Abbas, or some other Palestinian Authority official, he could find himself in the middle of a huge diplomatic crisis,” Katz said.
Just a comment of curiosity, was Chicago Mayer Daley worried about his safety or that he would see the dire conditions faced by the Palestinian people by not going to the West Bank? Or maybe, he was carrying more then $400 dollars in his pocket which many know bars you from entrance to the occupied territories because you may give money to a starving Palestinian so they might have off chance of buying food.
by Jay Levine
Reporting
CBS2chicago.com
Mayor Richard M. Daily
Video
(CBS) CHICAGO Mayor Daley began the next leg of his trip to the Middle East Wednesday after a stopover in Jordan.
The mayor is now in Israel with his entourage, where he was apparently awed by the sights of Jerusalem.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine is traveling with the mayor.
A first trip to Israel is impressive to any Christian, Muslim or Jew, and Mayor Daley was no exception.
But, just like most politicians here, he had to walk a fine line.
He began as so many other do: At the hallowed Western Wall. It’s the site of the first Jewish temple, where Jews from all over the world come to tuck pieces of paper between its stones with people’s names and prayers.
They mayor had his all ready.
"On behalf of my parents, my sister, Ellie, and, of course, my son, Kevin. Also a prayer for Israel, a prayer for the United States, and a prayer for peace," Daley said.
The visit to the wall paid tribute to his hosts. But the walk through the stations of the cross on Via Dolorosa had special meaning to this devout Catholic.
"Here, this guy Simon, which is a Jewish name from Karenia, helped him to carry the cross," a guide told the Daleys.
At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, among the holiest sites of Christianity, Mayor Daley, his wife and his daughter lit candles at the alter built at the site of the crucifixion.
The Daleys, especially wife Maggie, seemed in awe of the whole experience.
"To think of all of the millions of people who have walked these streets, and, over all these many years, it's truly overwhelming," she said.
The mayor did not visit the third major site in the old city: Temple Mount. It’s just above the Western Wall, with its historic Muslin mosques. Nor will Daley visit the area now walled off from Israel: The West Bank, homeland of so many other Chicagoans.
"Might Palestinians in Chicago perceive your coming to Israel, and not the place where they, where there hearts are, a slight to them?" Levine asked the mayor.
Daley replied: "No, I don't think so because we have Palestinians in our delegation to Jordan, we visited with Palestinians and Jordanians, no, it's not at all, whatsoever."
Sources say the mayor wanted to visit the West Bank but was discouraged by the state department for diplomatic and security reasons.
One security expert, Chicago native Jaakov Katz, isn’t surprised.
"Daley's caught in the middle, and it seems to me that he's trying to place nice with his Israeli hosts. If he wanted to travel to Ramallah, and meet with Abbas, or some other Palestinian Authority official, he could find himself in the middle of a huge diplomatic crisis,” Katz said.
Just a comment of curiosity, was Chicago Mayer Daley worried about his safety or that he would see the dire conditions faced by the Palestinian people by not going to the West Bank? Or maybe, he was carrying more then $400 dollars in his pocket which many know bars you from entrance to the occupied territories because you may give money to a starving Palestinian so they might have off chance of buying food.
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 3:22 AM
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