United States President George Bush on Monday delivered an unusually stern public warning to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon against plans to expand Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank.
The censure, delivered on a visit to the presidential ranch that was to have been a reward for Israel’s prime minister, was the strongest sign so far of Washington’s concern that a settlement expansion could wreck Bush’s road map for Middle East peace.
”I told the prime minister of my concern that Israel not undertake any activity that contravenes road map obligations or prejudices final status negotiations,” Bush told reporters at his Crawford ranch in Texas. ”Therefore, Israel should remove unauthorised outposts and meet its road map obligations regarding settlements in the West Bank.”
The public call for a freeze arrived as a disappointment for Sharon. Bush privately voiced specific objections against a scheme to expand the Maaleh Adumim settlement, which would prevent an eventual Palestinian state from having a foothold in any part of Arab East Jerusalem. Israeli officials had hoped that Washington would be too concerned with ensuring the planned evacuation of Jewish outposts from the Gaza Strip this summer to object to the construction plan.
However, Bush softened the rebuke by reaffirming his promise to Sharon of a year ago that Israel would not be compelled to stage a full withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders in an eventual settlement with the Palestinians, and would be able to retain some Jewish settlement blocs.
It remained unclear how Israel would respond to the caution. ”It is the Israeli position that the major Israeli population centres will remain in Israel’s hands under any future final status agreement,” Sharon told the joint press conference, adding pointedly, ”with all related consequences”.
Monday was Sharon’s first visit to the retreat, although his 11th meeting with Bush, and was planned to shore up his position against the Israeli right ahead of this summer’s withdrawal from settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Monday, Sharon told NBC TV he feared for his personal safety, amid resistance by hardliners to the Gaza pullout, and that the atmosphere in Israel was bordering on ”civil war”.
Instead of the hoped-for boost from Bush, Monday was dominated by US anger at an Israeli plan that would radically alter the contours of the West Bank by constructing a corridor of 3 650 new homes, expanding the settlement of Maaleh Adumim up to the boundaries of Jerusalem.
Diplomats say it would make it impossible for a Palestinian state to retain any portion of Jerusalem for its capital, and thus wreck the prospects of an eventual two-state solution.
Washington has opposed the scheme from the outset, saying that it violates the settlement freeze envisaged in the ”road map” for Middle East peace. The Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was even more blunt last week, calling for a ”full stop” to expansion.
Bush restated Washington’s commitment to recognising the main Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank.
”As I said last April, new realities on the ground make it unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return on the armistice lines of 1949,” he said.
”While the US will not prejudice the outcome of final status negotiations, those changes on the ground, including existing major Israeli population centres, must be taken into account in any final status negotiations.”
There were also signs that Israel had scored some success in shifting the focus to the challenges confronting the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israel’s demand that he crack down on militants. There were signs the US would tolerate some dissent from Israel.
Sharon said the road map did not immediately compel Israel to freeze settlements: ”Only after the Palestinians fulfil their obligations, primarily a real fight against terrorism… can we proceed toward negotiations based on the road map.” -Guardian Unlimited Â