Condi Pays a Visit

Condoleeza Rice came to Ramallah today - I didn't see her, just her motorcade as it went by my apartment. She's here to show support for Abu Mazen, but the overarching sentiment here was, "why did she bother to come here?" A great deal of this sentiment stemmed from the fact that she just met in Cairo with other Arab leaders about the Palestinian situation, but didn't invite a Palestinian representative. Hm.

Meanwhile, I learned something interesting about security today - it's obviously dangerous for the US Secretary of State to travel to Ramallah. There were security forces along the route to Fatah headquarters, although we could still walk down the road (with our large bags, which happened to be filled only with books and gym clothes, but still...). The intersting part is that CNN reported the meeting at the wrong time. Rather than showing the live news live, the report came at 5pm that she was headed into Ramallah for the meeting. In reality, I watched her motorcade leave Al-Bireh (sort of a suburb of Ramallah the way that Cambridge is to Boston) at approximately 4:30. I'd say that's far more effective than 30 guys with guns.

Whether her visit was as effective as her security? Well, that's the most unlikely prospect of all.