Washington’s surprise policy shift on the Middle East was criticised on Thursday amid fears it would fuel further violence in the volatile region, as the outraged Palestinian leadership called for an emergency meeting of Islamic nations.
United States President George Bush signalled his administration’s unprecedented backing of Israel’s plans to hold on to some parts of the West Bank captured in 1967 in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday.
Flouting successive United Nations resolutions, Bush said it is ”unrealistic” to expect Israel to pull out from all land captured in the 1967 war and added Palestinian refugees should not be allowed to return to land lost to Israel in 1948, when the Jewish state was created.
But his bombshell statements caused outrage among Palestinians. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world’s largest grouping of Muslim states, announced an emergency meeting at the request of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Arafat said Palestinian refugees forced to leave their homes after the creation of Israel will defend their right to return to their homeland.
”Our destiny is to defend our land, holy sites, Jerusalem and our right to freedom, independence and the right of refugees to return to their homeland,” Arafat said.
Bush’s comments were also met with skepticism at the UN, which has passed consecutive resolutions on the Middle East and again urged a negotiated settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
”The secretary general reiterates his position that final status issues should be determined in negotiations between the parties based on relevant Security Council resolutions,” UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s spokesperson said in a statement.
”He strongly believes that they should refrain from taking any steps that would pre-empt the outcome of such talks.”
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana also insisted on the need for a negotiated accord.
”Final status issues can only be resolved by mutual agreement between the parties,” he said.
Ireland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said the EU is opposed to any unilateral change to Middle East borders.
Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen said in a statement that the established position of the EU is that it ”will not recognise any change to the pre-1967 borders other than those arrived at by agreement between the parties”.
In Italy, the head of the country’s centre-right opposition reacted with shock at Washington’s policy change.
”This is a clear indication of the inability of the US president to understand the immeasurable damage caused by a unilateral strategy,” Francesco Rutelli said.
”This strategy … could plunge the entire Gulf region into chaos.”
Bush’s stance also infuriated Palestinian Premier Ahmed Qorei, who said matters such as the borders and the status of refugees must be decided in negotiations involving all sides.
”It cannot be decided by the president of the US what is realistic and what is not realistic,” Qorei said. ”This is a real violation of the road map.”
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to challenge the US policy shift on the Middle East when he meets Bush on Friday.
”I’d like very much to see Mr Blair continue to explain to the Bush administration the folly of going into this present situation and the dangers that it contains not only for Israelis and Palestinians but for all the Middle East,” Shaath told BBC radio.
Leading US dailies warned that Bush’s concessions toward Israel could anger Arab governments and further inflame the situation in Iraq.
A ”drastic and unfortunate policy reversal” and ”a costly blow to America’s credibility” said the New York Times.
By accepting Sharon’s terms without any negotiations between Israeli and Palestinians, the Times editorial said ”Bush is essentially supporting Israel’s right to impose a settlement of its choice on the Palestinians”.
The Washington Post quoted independent pollster John Zogby, who has surveyed extensively in the Arab world, as saying: ”This is pretty much the final nail in the coffin of the peace process as far as Arabs are concerned.”
Israeli newspapers said Sharon has secured a major coup in Washington while Palestinian dailies warned of further bloodshed.
”Bush gave Sharon words, just words, but what words,” said a front page editorial in the top-selling Jewish daily Yediot Aharonot.
The right-wing Jerusalem Post said Bush has exceeded Israeli expectations with his resounding endorsement of Sharon’s project.
”Bush went farther than most expected in supporting the plan, saying in clearer terms than any US president has publicly used that the US does not expect Israel to withdraw to the Green Line nor take in Palestinian refugees,” the English-language daily said.
The top-selling Palestinian daily Al-Quds said in an editorial: ”Bush has given Sharon everything that he wanted, but he has certainly not demonstrated the even-handedness and impartiality that the peace process requires.
”This biased position will exacerbate an already explosive situation, not only between the Palestinians and Israelis but in the whole Middle East region.” — Sapa-AFP
Bush rips up the road map