Sharon plans to seek U.S. approval for Israel setting its border on West Bank

Ariel Sharon reportedly plans to seek U.S. approval for Israel unilaterally delineating its border on West Bank land. Senior Israeli officials have recently proposed to counterparts in the Bush administration that the "road map" peace plan be abandoned and that it agree to the Jewish state annexing West Bank areas unilaterally, Maariv reported Monday.

According to the newspaper, the prime minister believes that terrorism will surge after the Palestinian Authority parliamentary elections later this month, proving that further peace talks are pointless. As well as setting its eastern border, Israel wants President Bush to endorse its hold on the Old City of Jerusalem, site of the Temple Mount, and its demand that Palestinian refugees renounce their claim on a "right of return", Maariv said. Senior Jerusalem sources dismissed the report as speculative, and said Sharon is still committed to the road map.