Sharon brushes off Bush warning on settlements

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday brushed off a warning from US President George W Bush not to allow further West Bank settlement growth, indicating Israel would continue to solidify its hold on areas it considers of strategic importance.

In a meeting with American newspaper editors in Washington, Mr Sharon also reiterated his call for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to take stronger steps to curb Palestinian militants.

“I have known him for many years. There is no doubt he represents a departure from Yasser Arafat’s strategy of terror,” sMr Sharon said. “But he must take additional steps to disarm terror organisations, stop incitement, or we can’t move forward from the pre-road map stage.”

Mr Abbas, who is set to meet Mr Bush next month, has preferred a strategy of negotiations with militant groups, rather than confrontation.

Mr Sharon said his meeting with Mr Bush was a great success. At a joint news conference at Mr Bush’s Texas ranch on Monday night, the Israeli leader won renewed support for his plan to remove Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

But he dampened the US president’s expectations that the tempo of peace talks would pick up after the withdrawal. At the ranch, Mr Bush said that any further building on the settlements would be in violation of the internationally backed “road map” peace plan, which both the Israelis and the Palestinians have formally accepted, but which has been long dormant with both sides failing to carry out their initial obligations.

“I’ve been very clear. Israel has an obligation under the road map. That’s no expansion of settlements,” Mr Bush said.

But later, Mr Sharon said that while US opposition to the settlements dated back to when Israel first captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has nevertheless continued to build communities to keep a hold on the land. “It was not to antagonise the US, but to keep areas that seem strategic to Israel,” Mr Sharon said.

Palestinians urged Mr Sharon to heed Mr Bush’s call to support the road map, though they were also furious with the US president for restating his position that Israel could expect to keep some of the land where they seek a state.