Bush &sharon Tenth Meeting

[joseph parikian]

From Haaretz ( Israel )

 

The tenth meeting

 

 

 

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left for the United States last night to receive public support from President George Bush for his "disengagement plan." American support is important for Sharon, both to provide diplomatic backing for his plan in the international community and to persuade his domestic Likud members and floating ministers to vote for it when it goes to a referendum of his party on April 29 and afterward to the cabinet and Knesset.

 

 

 

 

This is the tenth meeting between Sharon and Bush and it has been prepared more thoroughly than any previous ones. The debates centered on the guarantees and undertakings the United States would give in exchange for Sharon's announcement that he would evacuate the settlements and IDF troops from Gaza, apart from the Philadelphi road on the Egyptian border, and the evacuation of four isolated settlements in the West Bank. Sharon wishes to take this opportunity, on the eve of the American presidential elections, when the president is in political distress because of the military entanglement in Iraq, to harness the administration to the political move he is leading.

 

The principle at the heart of Sharon's plan is neutralizing the Palestinian Authority, under its present leadership, as a worthy partner for negotiations and political settlement, and the prolonged freeze of the status quo created in the territories after the planned withdrawal. Israel has asked the United States to block any alternative plan to the "road map" and to support fighting terrorism from the territories that would be evacuated.

 

This is why Sharon asked to add an American declaration that would present convenient positions for Israel on two of the issues in the permanent settlement - the border and the refugees.

 

The administration has shown sympathy for the idea of evacuating the settlements and presented it as having "historic potential," but asked in return that the disengagement appear part of the "road map" and not prevent the resumption of negotiations in the future. To demonstrate this, the Americans insisted that Israel also evacuate settlements in the West Bank, and not stop at the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, which is in any case considered an irksome security, economic and moral burden.

 

Sharon has a problematic record of keeping political commitments. Everyone remembers his promises to evacuate the outposts in the West Bank and to remove roadblocks in the territories, which were only partially and belatedly kept. Despite this, American support and the great effort invested in achieving it, strengthen the chance that his disengagement plan will indeed be approved and carried out.

 

The United States' diplomatic backing and its efforts to persuade its partners in the international community (the Arab states, the Europeans and the United Nations) to support the Israeli plan would make it difficult for Sharon to try to revoke it. The United States will also demand that any future prime minister make good on this undertaking, if Sharon's term is shortened.

 

The American declarations on the permanent settlement are expected to support Israel's position that rules out withdrawal to the Green Line in the West Bank and rejects the Palestinian demand for the return of refugees to Israel. The Americans wished to phrase them ambiguously, in a way compatible with their past statements - not to tie their hands in the future, and not to complicate their relations with the Arab states and Europe.

 

This is therefore a symbolic achievement, which Sharon needs mainly due to the pressure of Benjamin Netanyahu and other Likud ministers. They have conditioned their support for the plan on the annexation of settlement blocs and negating "the right of return."

 

 

Fallout from Baghdad

 

Judging by recent developments, America's grip on Iraq is weakening, along with its political coup in ousting Saddam. But world markets have yet to respond to any extent.

 

By Nitzan Lipson

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/414662.html

Edited April 13, 2004 by joseph parikian