A congressman asked President Bush to take up the plight of West Bank Christians with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee, wrote Bush last week, saying: “I cannot be blind when Israeli actions seem to go beyond the realm of legitimate security concerns and have negative consequences on communities and lands under their occupation.” According to columnist Robert Novak, who reported the letter Thursday, Hyde attached a five-page single-space report by the latter’s staff. It says the “Christian community is being crushed in the mill of the bitter Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and charges that Israel’s security barrier and settlements “are irreversibly damaging the dwindling Christian community.” Novak says Bush’s staff was “unsympathetic” to Hyde’s concerns. It is not clear if Bush raised the issue with Olmert when they met this week.
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