Bush policy shift deepens West Bank rift

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon secured unprecedented US backing for his plan to hold on to parts of the West Bank, a policy shift by President George Bush that strengthens Sharon politically just weeks ahead of a vote in his Likud Party on a proposed Gaza Strip pullout.

An exchange of letters between Bush and Sharon at a White House meeting put in writing US support for Israel’s plan to withdraw from all Gaza Strip settlements and some West Bank enclaves.

Bush said it was “unrealistic” to expect Israel to pull back to the borders that existed before the 1967 Mideast war due to large Jewish population centres that have been built on the territory since then.

Major West Bank settlements now make it “unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return” to pre-war borders, Bush said.

He also ruled out Palestinian refugees returning to Israel after a Palestinian state is created.

Bush’s change to long-standing US policy enraged the Palestinians, who are demanding that all West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements be dismantled so a Palestinian state can be established on the land.

Minutes after Mr Bush spoke, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia harshly criticised the US President’s stand.

“He is the first president who has legitimised the settlements in the Palestinian territories when he said that there will be no return to the borders of 1967,” he said, referring to the cease-fire line that delineates the West Bank.

“We as Palestinians reject that. We cannot accept that. We reject it and we refuse it.”

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat also dismissed Mr Bush’s statement. “This is like someone giving a part of Texas’ land to China,” he said.

He said that over the years, US administrations have assured the Palestinians that issues like borders and settlements would be handled in negotiations between the two sides.

Sharon sorely needed Bush’s clear and public endorsement of his “disengagement plan” as he heads home today for an intense battle to persuade more than 200,000 hard-line Likud Party members to vote on May 2 in favour of the plan.

After the referendum, Sharon’s Cabinet and parliament must also approve the withdrawal.

Sharon spent hours after his meeting with Bush updating key Cabinet ministers and opposition leader Shimon Peres on the talks, a senior official in the Prime Minister’s entourage said. At least one Cabinet minister announced shortly afterward that she had decided to support the pullout plan.

The official said the pullout plan would be fully implemented by the end of 2005. Sharon has said recently that by April 2005 Israel would be in the midst of pulling out of settlements.

The White House meeting was the culmination of more than two months of intense US-Israeli negotiations over each side’s commitments and the wording of the two letters.

The negotiations continued to the last minute, leading Sharon to delay his flight to Washington by three hours until he was satisfied with the wording in the American letter, the Israeli official said.

In the end, Sharon was elated. The Israeli official said no US administration had ever expressed such strong support for Israel’s position on key final-status issues.

But behind the scenes, administration officials tried to cast the day’s events as Bush gaining concessions from Sharon, saying Bush’s statement did not indicate a change in US policy.

The officials said Israel’s commitment to dismantle Gaza Strip and West Bank settlements could lead to a breakthrough in long-frozen negotiations on implementing the US-backed road map peace plan, which envisages the formation of a Palestinian state by next year.