Archbishop refused to meet Bush in Church

 The Lebanon-based Al-Akhbar newspaper revealed Saturday that Dr. Attalla Hanna, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sabastia, has refused to receive US president George Bush at the Church of Nativity during his visit to Beit lahm last Thursday.

The newspaper added that this step taken by Hanna was met with satisfaction on the part of Palestinian Muslim and Christian community in Lebanon.

According to the newspaper, the majority of the Christian clergymen expressed their embarrassment for the warm reception given to the American President by clerical Christians during his visit to Beit lahm two days ago.

Hanna had announced at the beginning of this month in his meeting with Palestinian refugees in the Baqa'a camp in Jordan that Bush and his actions have nothing to do with Christianity and its values.

In a related context, Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the acting speaker of the PLC, warned of a conspiracy being carried out by the American administration, the Israeli occupation and the PA leadership headed by Mahmoud Abbas to undermine the Palestinian cause.

Dr. Bahar underlined that the speeches of the US president, the Israeli premier and the PA chief during Bush's first visit to the occupied Palestinian lands indicate the presence of a conspiracy against the Palestinian cause, especially after Bush reiterated the importance of protecting the security of the Israeli occupation and described it as a "Jewish state".

The acting speaker pointed out that Bush linked the establishment of a Palestinian state to the security of the Israeli occupation and the role of the PA security apparatuses in promoting this security through eliminating the legitimate Palestinian resistance.