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Politics : Middle East Politics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (6495)	5/6/2004 3:26:03 PM
From: Elmer Flugum	Respond to of 6945

Bush Backs Away From Pledges to Israel on Settlements nytimes.com May 6, 2004 WASHINGTON -- President Bush, responding to complaints in the Arab world, urged Israel on Thursday to withdraw from the territory it captured in the 1967 Mideast war. After meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Bush did not repeat the assurances he gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last month that he supports Israel's retention of some settlements on the West Bank as part of an overall agreement with the Palestinians. Bush said at a joint news conference with the king that all such issues must be negotiated against the backdrop of U.N. Security Council resolutions from 1967 and 1973 that called on Israel to withdraw from captured land. "The United States will not prejudice the outcome of those negotiations," Bush said. Only a few weeks, the president publicly supported Israel's retention of some population clusters on the West Bank and opposition of the settlement of Palestinian refugees in Israel. Abdullah said Israel must withdraw to the borders it held before the 1967 war. Jordan lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem when it joined other Arab nation in fighting Israel. Egypt lost Gaza. "All final status issues should be a matter for the parties to decide," Abdullah said. The assurances that Bush gave Sharon, both at a joint news conference at the White House on April 14 and in a letter, infuriated Arab and European governments. Bush's action led Abdullah to postpone an April 21 visit to the White House. Also, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt declared that Arabs hold a "hatred never equaled" for Americans. As a result, Arab governments and their European supporters watched closely for expressions of support from Bush at his meeting with Abdullah. Jordan long has given up any interest in getting the West Bank back from Israel. Instead, Jordan wants all of the land turned over to the Palestinian Authority to be part of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. In 1994, Abdullah's late father, King Hussein, signed a peace treaty with Israel. Fifteen years earlier, Egypt had reached a groundbreaking agreement with the Jewish state. In the days leading up to Abdullah's visit, Jordanian and Bush administration officials discussed the king's request for a written statement that Palestinians who have lost homes and land would get compensation as part of an overall agreement with Israel. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who met with Abdullah just before the king went to the White House, discussed Iraq, Mideast peace efforts and U.S. relations with the kingdom, a senior U.S. official said. The Mideast was the main subject of a phone call Bush had Thursday morning with Mubarak, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. Powell said he believes Israel ultimately will approve Sharon's proposal to withdraw all Israeli troops and all 7,500 Jewish settlers from Gaza and to pull back on the West Bank. Sharon's Likud party rejected the plan in a nonbinding referendum on Sunday. Powell has described the plan as an opportunity for the Palestinians to begin taking over land held by Israel and to establish a state on it.