'I'm not aware of the president having been asked that question'
The Bush administration apparently hasn't given consideration to the Jewish refugees who were displaced from Arab nations when Israel was launched as a nation six decades ago, according to a White House spokesman.
The question came up as a result of Bush's trip to the Middle East, and a Washington Post report that the president was lobbying for compensation for the Palestinian refugees who lost homes or property.
Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, raised the issue.
"The top of page one of The Washington Post reported from Jerusalem the president saying that Palestinian refugees in 1948 should receive compensation for loss of homes, when they fled or were forced to flee during the establishment of the state of the Israel. And my question: Is there any record of anyone asking the president about the 870,000 Jews who at that time were forcibly expelled from their homes in  "I'm not aware of the president having been asked that question," answered spokesman Tony Fratto.
"And do you have an answer to it, since I'm raising it?" Kinsolving continued.
"I'm not aware of the – you asked if I knew if the president has been asked, and I told you I'm not aware that he has or hasn't."
"Nobody's asked. All right," Kinsolving said.
"Not that I'm aware of."
The Post report quoted Bush as saying the Palestinians should get compensation, and that Israel's "occupation" of lands it seized should be ended.
The comments came after Bush visited Ramallah, the West Bank city that is headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, as he worked to make progress toward a peace accord in the Middle East.
The Post reported Bush apparently was prodding the Israeli government, although he made it clear that nation cannot give up everything it captured during the 1967 war.
"There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967," Bush told reporters. That was when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights.
Bush has said his goal is an Israel that has "secure, recognized and defensible borders" and a Palestine that is "viable, contiguous, sovereign and independent."
The report said Bush's language on compensation was a first for his administration.
"We need to look to the establishment of a Palestinian state and new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue," Bush said.
Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian parliament, told the newspaper whether compensation is enought has to be left up to "every refugee to decide."
In a second question, Kinsolving asked: "Since the president on January the 14th, Religious Freedom Day, declared 'My administration continues to support freedom worship at home and abroad,' the president therefore supports Virginia's Attorney General McDonnell who has declared as a matter of federal constitutional law, the Episcopal Church is simply wrong; the Constitution does not require that local church property disputes be resolved by deferring to national and regional church leaders. The president supports the attorney aeneral, doesn't he?"
"I'm not sure that the president has a opinion on the Episcopalian conflict, on this question," Fratto said.
In this issue, the denomination of Episcopal churches has shown signs of disintegration, with dozens of congregations voting to leave the national body over its adoption of a pro-homosexual political position.
The disputes arise because local congregations whose members have paid for buildings and property have been reluctant to simply abandon those assets to the national denomination, which claims ownership. Original Source