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Bush: Israel gets some of Judea and Samaria back
Hat tip LGF. EFL.President Bush implicitly recognized Israelâs claim to some West Bank settlements on Wednesday and backed a Gaza Strip pullout plan in a historic U.S. policy shift that drew immediate condemnation from the Palestinians. "Heâs asking us to concede something!" Bushâs support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will go down well with conservative and Jewish voters in the U.S. presidential election but was likely to inflame the Arab world and further complicate efforts to stabilize Iraq. But you donât give terrorism so much as a yoctometer "In 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 said during a news conference with Sharon. And it shouldnât fall there anyway. The announcement marked a shift from the decades-old U.S. policy of viewing the Jewish settlements as an obstacle to peace and was greeted with anger by Palestinian officials. "Bush is the first U.S. president to give legitimacy to Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. We reject this. We will not accept it," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told reporters at his West Bank home. "I am incensed that he considers the settlers to be civilians!" The statement and letters Bush and Sharon exchanged could go a long way toward helping the Israeli leader push his plan to scrap 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank through a binding vote in his right-wing Likud party on May 2. "These are historic and courageous actions," Bush said about the Gaza withdrawal. "If all parties choose to embrace this moment, they can open the door to progress and put an end to one of the worldâs longest-running conflicts." The president also appeared to negate any right of return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel, saying they should be resettled in a future Palestinian state instead. Excuse me, but thereâs already a Palestinian state. Itâs called Jordan. A beaming Sharon told Bush: "I was encouraged by your positive response and your support for my plan. "In that context, you handed me a letter that includes very important statement regarding Israel security and its well-being as a Jewish state." Posted by: Korora 2004-04-14 |
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