JERUSALEM, 1 April 2007 — US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday visited Jerusalem’s Old City on the first day of her tour of the Middle East, which has drawn fire at home because of her decision to visit Syria.
“The speaker visited the Old City and toured the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” an official traveling with Pelosi told AFP.
Pelosi — whose delegation includes Democrat Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the US Congress — was to meet Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres for dinner later yesterday, he said. She is scheduled to hold talks today with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni before speaking at an official ceremony in Parliament.
She also planned to hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Pelosi raised the shackles of the White House after her aides announced she would make a groundbreaking visit to Syria, which the United States accuses of harboring terror organizations and backing insurgents in Iraq.
Syria’s embassy in Washington hailed the proposed trip as “momentous” and expressed hopes it may change sorely strained relations with the United States, even as the White House denounced the visit as “a really bad idea” that undermines US policy.
The State Department tried and failed to convince Pelosi, who will be the highest-ranking US official to visit Syria in years, to cancel the visit, which is expected to take place next week. It then asked her to convey a “strong message” to Damascus, officials said.
“They should end their support for Palestinian rejectionist groups, take a constructive stance vis-a-vis Lebanon, and obviously do what they can to help support Iraq,” said spokesman Sean McCormack.
The White House denounced the Damascus visit by Pelosi — a determined opponent of US President George W. Bush’s Iraq war policies — and warned she may hand Syrian President Bashar Assad a symbolic diplomatic victory.
“Bashar probably really wants people to come and have a photo opportunity and have tea with him and have discussions about where they’re coming from, but we do think that it’s a really bad idea,” said spokeswoman Dana Perino. Other top Democratic lawmakers traveling with Pelosi and Ellison include House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman.
Ellison said he hoped to visit the Haram Al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary). The compound, the third holiest site in Islam, is one of the main points of friction between Israel and the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict. “I haven’t seen it yet, but I hope to, I’m really looking forward to it,” Ellison said of the compound, which is also home to the Dome of Rock shrine. Ellison said his presence — as a Muslim — on the trip sent a message to Israelis and Palestinians that “people can come together.” “Reconciliation is possible,” he said.
