US President George W. Bush looked set to announce qualified support for Israel's planned unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip in talks yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Sharon hopes to spin any presidential seal of approval for a historic withdrawal from occupied land into a victory over far-right opponents of the move in a binding vote by members of his right-wing Likud party on May 2.
But with Palestinians crying foul over Sharon's pledge this week to couple a Gaza pullback with strengthening major Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the US must navigate its latest Middle East minefield carefully.
Any perceived US endorsement of a cementing of Israel's hold on land that Palestinians want for a state would inflame the Arab world and further complicate efforts to stabilize Iraq, where US forces are under daily attack from Muslim fighters.
"Sharon is destroying any hope for peace between the two peoples," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said.
He urged Bush not to give Sharon any guarantees that could affect eventual negotiations on the US-backed "road map," a violence-stalled peace plan that envisions a Palestinian state coexisting with Israel.
Ambiguity may be the key in what Israeli officials said would be an exchange of letters between Bush and Sharon, who were scheduled to hold a news conference after their meeting in the White House's residential quarters.
A senior Israeli official, speaking to reporters on Sharon's flight to Washington, said the letters would "outline the contours of a final peace deal and state Israel's right to live along defensible borders, taking into consideration demographic realities on the ground."
Israeli officials understand that phrase to refer to the 120 settlements that Israel has planted in the West Bank since its capture with the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war.
Such a statement from Washington would be "an amazing victory" for Sharon's policy, his vice premier, Ehud Olmert, said Tuesday.
Asked if Bush was expected to endorse the Gaza withdrawal plan, a US official who asked not to be identified said, "All the indicators are pointing in that direction for me."
But the official said, "[The statement] will be crafted so that everyone will be able to declare victory and go home."
On the eve of the White House talks, Sharon met US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and the teams of advisers from both sides that prepared the letters.
Israeli officials said the prime minister would reiterate at the White House Israeli support for the road map, leaving open the option of renewed talks with the Palestinians once anti-Israeli violence stopped.
But Palestinians were furious after Sharon vowed on Monday that Israel would hold on to the main West Bank settlements, fueling their fears the Gaza pullout was a ruse to annex West Bank land.
There are some 230,000 settlers and 2.3 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Gaza is home to 1.3 million Palestinians and 7,500 settlers in a smattering of isolated, fortified enclaves.
RSS