ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 14 - Bush Endorses Sharon Plan; Against Palestinians' Right Of Return.

At a joint White House press conference after talks with visiting Israeli PM Sharon, Bush endorses Israel's plans to retain territory it captured from the Arabs in the June 1967 war, saying it will be unrealistic to expect a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines. On the massive Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Bush says the Palestinians have to "recognize the new realities on the ground" and that it is unrealistic for the 1948 Palestinian refugees to think that they would one day return to their homes in Israel. He says these Palestinian refugees could settle in the planned Palestine state. But he says for the Palestinians to have a state of their own, they must first crack down on "the terrorists". He says Sharon's plan to remove all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and a number in the West Bank amounts to "historic and courageous actions" that could open the way to ending one of the world's longest-running conflicts. (Bush makes an implicit recognition that the main Jewish settlements in the West Bank are there to stay). He says: "In the light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949". (Bush's statement helps seal the fate of 7,500 settlers that Sharon plans to evacuate from the Gaza Strip. But it in effect endorses Sharon's pledge this week that the main settlements that house most of the 220,000 settlers in the West Bank would remain part of Israel. Sharon sought Washington's endorsement for his plan to help sell it to his ruling Likud party, which will hold a referendum on it on May 2. The two leaders on Apr. 14 exchanged letters outlining policy on Sharon's withdrawal plan, which Bush said would help advance his vision for a two-state solution to the conflict. Sharon later said Bush had provided an "important statement regarding Israel security and its well-being as a Jewish state").

The Palestine leadership denounces Bush's statement immediately saying the endorsement is dangerous and unacceptable. Having been cut out of US-Israeli negotiations on Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, Palestinian officials say they would not accept the Bush scenario. "Nobody in the world has the right to give up Palestinian rights", says Palestinian PM Ahmad Qurei. Palestinian officials are also angered by Bush's suggestion that Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a Palestinian state that has yet to be established. (The Palestinians have refused to surrender the right to return to what is now Israel pending talks). "His comments on refugees undermine US credibility in the Middle East", says Michael Tarazi, a Palestinian legal adviser. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official, says: "Bush and Sharon are trying to protect each other's political future but are endangering the political future of Israel, the Palestinians and the whole region". (Political analysts say Bush has fulfilled most of the wish-list Sharon's aides had put to him. The plan drew a guarded welcome from UK PM Tony Blair, who said the international community should "seize this opportunity to inject new life into the peace process in accordance with the road map", the plan agreed by the US, EU, UN and Russia).

(The key role behind this Bush position was played by what The Financial Times on Apr 17 described as a "backroom bureaucrat", Elliott Abrams, a neo-conservative (neo-con) official of the US National Security Council official chiefly responsible for Arab-Israeli relations. When Bush was in Britain last November, Abrams was sent quietly to Rome for a discreet meeting with Sharon, who was then in Italy, to relay to the president the latter's plan for unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians. In shaping the Bush's controversial decision to endorse Sharon's Middle East vision, Abrams worked in a trio on Middle East policy that included his superior, Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, and William Burns, the State Department official in charge of Middle East policy. Abrams' role was to "carry out what the president wants". In the 10 weeks of consultations before the Apr 14 announcement, US officials made three trips to see Sharon and his staff and there were two visits from Israeli delegations to the White House. Abrams and his colleagues were "kept on a short leash".