January 20, 2008 (LPAC)--To get a glimpse at what really happened during President Bush's recent Middle East foray, in pursuit of a final peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, consider the following report from Palestinian Authority sources. And weigh it against the lavish claims of Bush ``engagement,'' and deep dedication to a two-state solution, that have characterized White House ``spin'' of the U.S. President's eight-day tour of Southwest Asia.

Just hours before President Bush's scheduled meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, some of the President's advance men approached the Palestinian leader with a request--bordering on a demand, according to an informed account. The President of the United States, the report goes, insisted that, when he and President Abbas hold their joint press conference, following their meeting in Ramallah, the portrait of Palestinian Liberation Organization founder and former PA President Yasser Arafat should kindly be removed from the wall, behind the two podiums. It seems that Mr. Bush was still so angry at the late Palestinian leader that the mere sight of his portrait would ruin his day.

In an unusual display of spine, according to reports, President Abbas adamantly refused to remove the Arafat portrait from the press gallery. Eventually, the U.S. President backed down from his demand. And in a final display of Palestinian anger at the Bush insult to their cherished leader, when the two presidents completed their private talks and moved into the press room to take questions from the media, the two podiums were switched, so that President Abbas was standing beneath his own portrait, and President Bush was forced to stand beneath the portrait of Yasser Arafat.

Sometimes, the smallest details and the most personal of incidents speak volumes about the true state of affairs.