West Bank Pullout Gets a Nod From Bush
By JIM RUTENBERG and STEVEN ERLANGER
The New York Times
May 24, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 23 — President Bush offered conditional support on Tuesday for Israeli ideas for a substantial withdrawal of settlers from the West Bank, but insisted that the new prime minister, Ehud Olmert, first exhaust all possibilities for a negotiated solution.
With concern rising over Iran's nuclear program, Mr. Bush reconfirmed the United States commitment to defend Israel against attack, and said that he, too, wanted to exhaust all diplomatic options before discussing any military attack.
"Our primary objective is to solve this problem diplomatically," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Olmert spoke at a joint news conference at the White House after a meeting here, their first since Mr. Olmert became prime minister. The two men said they also planned to meet later in the White House residence, without their advisers.
Mr. Bush praised Mr. Olmert's "bold ideas" for another unilateral Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory. But he said a negotiated agreement "best serves Israelis and Palestinians and the cause of peace."
Mr. Olmert said that "we will make a genuine effort to negotiate with the Palestinian side," and that "we accept the sincerity of Mahmoud Abbas," the Palestinian president, whom he plans to meet soon.
But with the Palestinian Authority led by Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group, Mr. Olmert said, "We hope he will have the power to be able to meet the requirements necessary for negotiations between us and the Palestinians."
Mr. Bush said, "What worries me is that Hamas says it wants to destroy Israel."
"I assured the prime minister that our position is steady and strong — that Hamas must change," he said. "No country can be expected to make peace with those who deny its right to exist, and who use terror to attack its population."
But if negotiations are not possible or successful, Mr. Olmert said, Israel will move ahead on its own. "We will not wait indefinitely," he said.
Mr. Olmert ran for election on a promise to try to set the permanent borders of Israel by finishing the separation barrier between Israel and the Palestinians and by pulling out Israeli settlers — as many as 70,000 — who live in the West Bank beyond the barrier.
Another 175,000 Israelis, plus another 200,000 in East Jerusalem, live beyond the 1967 boundaries. But Mr. Olmert says Israel intends to keep those large settlement blocs.
The United States has said a final agreement should recognize new realities on the ground. But Mr. Bush has also emphasized that final borders cannot be imposed but must be negotiated, and that neither side should do anything to prejudice those negotiations.
"While any final status agreement will be only achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes," Mr. Bush said, "the prime minister's ideas could be an important step toward the peace we both support."
Officials of both countries emphasized that they did not have high expectations that Mr. Abbas would be able to generate the conditions for a resumption of talks on the peace plan called the road map.
The Palestinians have agreed to abandon terrorism and dismantle militant groups that operate outside the Palestinian Authority. But Hamas refuses to recognize Israel, and defends the right of Palestinian groups like Islamic Jihad to fight the Israeli occupation. Hamas leaders recently praised an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, while Mr. Abbas called it despicable.
"When we say, 'Abandon terror,' we mean that it's not enough to renounce terror, that's just words, but there have to be actions on the ground to show that they've given up terrorism as a legitimate tool," a senior American official said.
But Mr. Olmert and the Israelis have barely begun planning a pullout, which he has now chosen to call realignment. Israeli officials say they will need six months to a year to prepare their plans, which they will do in discussions with the Americans, talks that will provide a window to test the possibility of negotiations with Mr. Abbas.
"It's our view that this window is one reason the Israelis can say honestly that there is time to evolve on the Palestinian side, since they're not ready to move," the senior American official said. "It's a lucky circumstance."
The official supported the Israeli contention that the Palestinians were not yet ready for the negotiations that Mr. Bush called for.
"The question is whether there's an evolution, either of Hamas or the power relationships with the Palestinian Authority, such that such a negotiation would be advisable," the American official said. "Olmert made it clear that it's not advisable today, and the president said clearly that Israel is not able to negotiate with Hamas."
Mr. Olmert's visit to the White House was his first as prime minister, and his aides were pleased with the warmth of the reception.
He and Mr. Bush were scheduled to spend about 45 minutes in private discussions on Tuesday night — a chance to bond, but also to have a serious discussion about Iran and about how both countries might respond if diplomacy there fails.
Mr. Bush recognizes that a visit from the Israeli prime minister provides a chance to remind his Republican supporters and American Jews, many of whom vote Democratic, about his staunch support of Israel during a crucial election year.
Negotiations took place over the last week or so on how Mr. Bush would characterize Mr. Olmert's proposal for withdrawal, with the Americans eager not to be seen to support what the Palestinians would call an Israeli land grab of occupied territory.
Having first suggested that Mr. Olmert's ideas were "interesting," the negotiators moved to "constructive" and finally to "bold," which pleased the Israelis.
The Americans have many questions, however: how many settlers will go; where the barrier will run; what will happen to the Israeli development plans for an area called E1, which would cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank; how the Israeli Army would be deployed in the areas Israel abandons, or whether it would be withdrawn entirely.
Still, there was some disappointment among Israeli officials that Mr. Olmert's plan, which to them is more risky and ambitious than Ariel Sharon's pullout of 9,000 settlers and troops from Gaza, was greeted cautiously in Washington.
There was little new on Iran. Both men agreed that Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear power. "We determined that the Iranian regime must not obtain nuclear weapons," Mr. Bush said.
Israel says it believes that Iran is only months away from developing the know-how to enrich uranium. Mr. Olmert said: "This is a moment of truth. It is still not too late to prevent it from happening."
Mr. Bush concentrated on his diplomatic efforts to get Russia and China to agree to possible sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council. "We're spending a lot of time working with our Russian friends in particular, to make it clear to them that Iran is showing no good faith" in negotiations, Mr. Bush said.
He faced a new complication on Tuesday, when the House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for withholding support from Hamas until it acknowledges Israel's right to exist and expels any members with ties to terrorism.
The House was calling for the United States to withhold funds for United Nations agencies that assist the Palestinian Authority at a time when even the Israeli chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, has voiced concern that its economic isolation — intended to weaken it — is having a rallying effect in the territories.
The White House opposes the resolution as too constraining. The White House press secretary, Tony Snow, said the administration expected it to take a different form after consultation with the Senate.
The New York Times
May 24, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 23 — President Bush offered conditional support on Tuesday for Israeli ideas for a substantial withdrawal of settlers from the West Bank, but insisted that the new prime minister, Ehud Olmert, first exhaust all possibilities for a negotiated solution.
With concern rising over Iran's nuclear program, Mr. Bush reconfirmed the United States commitment to defend Israel against attack, and said that he, too, wanted to exhaust all diplomatic options before discussing any military attack.
"Our primary objective is to solve this problem diplomatically," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Olmert spoke at a joint news conference at the White House after a meeting here, their first since Mr. Olmert became prime minister. The two men said they also planned to meet later in the White House residence, without their advisers.
Mr. Bush praised Mr. Olmert's "bold ideas" for another unilateral Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory. But he said a negotiated agreement "best serves Israelis and Palestinians and the cause of peace."
Mr. Olmert said that "we will make a genuine effort to negotiate with the Palestinian side," and that "we accept the sincerity of Mahmoud Abbas," the Palestinian president, whom he plans to meet soon.
But with the Palestinian Authority led by Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group, Mr. Olmert said, "We hope he will have the power to be able to meet the requirements necessary for negotiations between us and the Palestinians."
Mr. Bush said, "What worries me is that Hamas says it wants to destroy Israel."
"I assured the prime minister that our position is steady and strong — that Hamas must change," he said. "No country can be expected to make peace with those who deny its right to exist, and who use terror to attack its population."
But if negotiations are not possible or successful, Mr. Olmert said, Israel will move ahead on its own. "We will not wait indefinitely," he said.
Mr. Olmert ran for election on a promise to try to set the permanent borders of Israel by finishing the separation barrier between Israel and the Palestinians and by pulling out Israeli settlers — as many as 70,000 — who live in the West Bank beyond the barrier.
Another 175,000 Israelis, plus another 200,000 in East Jerusalem, live beyond the 1967 boundaries. But Mr. Olmert says Israel intends to keep those large settlement blocs.
The United States has said a final agreement should recognize new realities on the ground. But Mr. Bush has also emphasized that final borders cannot be imposed but must be negotiated, and that neither side should do anything to prejudice those negotiations.
"While any final status agreement will be only achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes," Mr. Bush said, "the prime minister's ideas could be an important step toward the peace we both support."
Officials of both countries emphasized that they did not have high expectations that Mr. Abbas would be able to generate the conditions for a resumption of talks on the peace plan called the road map.
The Palestinians have agreed to abandon terrorism and dismantle militant groups that operate outside the Palestinian Authority. But Hamas refuses to recognize Israel, and defends the right of Palestinian groups like Islamic Jihad to fight the Israeli occupation. Hamas leaders recently praised an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, while Mr. Abbas called it despicable.
"When we say, 'Abandon terror,' we mean that it's not enough to renounce terror, that's just words, but there have to be actions on the ground to show that they've given up terrorism as a legitimate tool," a senior American official said.
But Mr. Olmert and the Israelis have barely begun planning a pullout, which he has now chosen to call realignment. Israeli officials say they will need six months to a year to prepare their plans, which they will do in discussions with the Americans, talks that will provide a window to test the possibility of negotiations with Mr. Abbas.
"It's our view that this window is one reason the Israelis can say honestly that there is time to evolve on the Palestinian side, since they're not ready to move," the senior American official said. "It's a lucky circumstance."
The official supported the Israeli contention that the Palestinians were not yet ready for the negotiations that Mr. Bush called for.
"The question is whether there's an evolution, either of Hamas or the power relationships with the Palestinian Authority, such that such a negotiation would be advisable," the American official said. "Olmert made it clear that it's not advisable today, and the president said clearly that Israel is not able to negotiate with Hamas."
Mr. Olmert's visit to the White House was his first as prime minister, and his aides were pleased with the warmth of the reception.
He and Mr. Bush were scheduled to spend about 45 minutes in private discussions on Tuesday night — a chance to bond, but also to have a serious discussion about Iran and about how both countries might respond if diplomacy there fails.
Mr. Bush recognizes that a visit from the Israeli prime minister provides a chance to remind his Republican supporters and American Jews, many of whom vote Democratic, about his staunch support of Israel during a crucial election year.
Negotiations took place over the last week or so on how Mr. Bush would characterize Mr. Olmert's proposal for withdrawal, with the Americans eager not to be seen to support what the Palestinians would call an Israeli land grab of occupied territory.
Having first suggested that Mr. Olmert's ideas were "interesting," the negotiators moved to "constructive" and finally to "bold," which pleased the Israelis.
The Americans have many questions, however: how many settlers will go; where the barrier will run; what will happen to the Israeli development plans for an area called E1, which would cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank; how the Israeli Army would be deployed in the areas Israel abandons, or whether it would be withdrawn entirely.
Still, there was some disappointment among Israeli officials that Mr. Olmert's plan, which to them is more risky and ambitious than Ariel Sharon's pullout of 9,000 settlers and troops from Gaza, was greeted cautiously in Washington.
There was little new on Iran. Both men agreed that Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear power. "We determined that the Iranian regime must not obtain nuclear weapons," Mr. Bush said.
Israel says it believes that Iran is only months away from developing the know-how to enrich uranium. Mr. Olmert said: "This is a moment of truth. It is still not too late to prevent it from happening."
Mr. Bush concentrated on his diplomatic efforts to get Russia and China to agree to possible sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council. "We're spending a lot of time working with our Russian friends in particular, to make it clear to them that Iran is showing no good faith" in negotiations, Mr. Bush said.
He faced a new complication on Tuesday, when the House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for withholding support from Hamas until it acknowledges Israel's right to exist and expels any members with ties to terrorism.
The House was calling for the United States to withhold funds for United Nations agencies that assist the Palestinian Authority at a time when even the Israeli chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, has voiced concern that its economic isolation — intended to weaken it — is having a rallying effect in the territories.
The White House opposes the resolution as too constraining. The White House press secretary, Tony Snow, said the administration expected it to take a different form after consultation with the Senate.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 10:07 AM
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