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Tight security for Bush visit
09/01/2008 12:55 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Thousands of Israeli police and soldiers patrolled the emptied streets of Jerusalem on Wednesday as security forces went on full alert for US President George W Bush's landmark visit.
Air Force One touched down at Ben-Gurion International Airport just before noon local time. Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert greeted him on the tarmac.
Police, border guards and soldiers were posted on every corner of streets leading into the city centre and around the King David Hotel where the president will stay over the next three days.
"We cannot afford any screw-ups when it comes to the most powerful man on earth," said Yossi Torsk, a policeman standing guard in the Holy City, one of the 10 500 Israeli security personnel who will be on duty during the trip.
Metal barriers were at the ready to block off entire city blocks as the security-obsessed nation went into overdrive for the first visit by a sitting US president in nine years.
A white electronic surveillance balloon floated in the sky above Jerusalem as police patrolled rooftops around the historic King David Hotel.
Many shops in central Jerusalem are closed and crowds in the normally bustling city centre and the main food market visibly thinned out.
On high alert
"I've never seen anything like this," said Monique, an owner of a Jewish souvenir shop across the street from Bush's hotel. "It's completely empty. I even took a picture of the street when I got in this morning."
Israeli and Palestinian officials have for weeks grappled with how to ensure the safety of the leader of the world's biggest superpower in densely-populated urban centres in one of the most volatile regions on the planet.
In Israel, all intelligence services in the nation have been placed on high alert for operation "Clear Sky" - the largest security operation since John Paul II came to the Holy Land in March 2000.
On the Palestinian side, 4 000 law enforcement officials are to be deployed in Ramallah alone, with additional personnel in the city of Bethlehem, where Bush is to pray at the church at the site where Jesus was born.
'Welcome Bush with bombs'
Underscoring security concerns, an American member of al-Qaeda urged Islamist militants to target Bush during his trip, saying he should be welcomed "not by flowers and applause, but with bombs and car bombs".
"The visit will paralyse Jerusalem," said one Israeli official. "It will be impossible to move around and get anywhere close to where he is staying and visiting."
In Ramallah, the area around the muqata government compound where Bush will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, began to be blocked off on Wednesday.
"It will be practically under curfew," a security official said.
Bush, who has already visited Egypt, Jordan and Iraq during his presidency, is due to spend most of his time in Jerusalem but will also visit the West Bank and the Galilee region of Israel before heading off to the Gulf and then Egypt.
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