...let's hope so.....Kindler, gentler' Mideast policy?Bush's...

...let's hope so.....


Kindler, gentler' Mideast policy?

Bush's call for negotiations on 'all issues' seen as shift away from Sharon.

by Tom Regan | csmonitor.com


Seeking to reassure the Arab world after an unsettling series of incidents, US President George Bush reaffirmed the traditional US position that a territorial settlement between Israel and the Palestinians must be the result of negotiations, not of unilateral action by Israel. The Los Angeles Times reports that Mr. Bush's statement came Thursday during a joint statement in the White House Rose Garden with the ruler of Jordan, King Abdullah II.
During the joint appearence, Bush briefly mentioned his recent support of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank (with Israel retaining parts of the West Bank), and the denial of the Palestinian 'right of return.' But he also said that "all final status issues must be negotiated between the parties" and that the US "will not prejudice the outcome of those negotiations." The Scotsman reports that Bush said issues such as whether or not Israel gets to keep any of the West Bank "must be negotiated against the backdrop of UN Security Council resolutions of 1967 and 1973 that called on Israel to withdraw from captured land."

King Abdullah had backed out of an earlier schedule meeting with Bush after the White House announced its support for Mr. Sharon's unilaterial plan. In a concession to Abdullah, Bush said he would send Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie a "personal letter" that will explain his views, and "we [the US] will expand dialogue between the United States and Palestinians." Last month, Bush had sent a similar to Sharon about his disengagement plan. United Press International reports that while the meeting brought Bush and Abdullah closer together, they still do not see eye-to-eye on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.





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Jon Leyne, the BBC correspondent in Washington, reports that Bush, who is "reeling from the Iraqi prisoner scandal" is trying a "kindler, gentler" approach to the Middle East. The US move towards a more even-handed approach might be a way of admitting that the Bush administration had "underestimated the backlash from Bush's endorsement of Sharon's plans ..." The prison scandal is also playing a role in the effort to reach out to Arab nations. "It is very hard to lecture people – as the Bush administration has been accused of by some – when the US has lost the moral high ground," Mr. Leyne writes.

The Age of Australia reports that the "foreign policy flip-flop" also comes after Sharon failed to get his hardline Likud party to agree to Israel's side of the deal – a complete withdrawal of the 7500 Israeli settlers living in the Gaza Strip. Last Sunday Likud members voted 60-40 against the plan, which The Age describes as "a move widely interpreted as a crushing defeat for the Prime Minister and a serious reverse for Bush's flagging Middle East policy."

The Daily Times of Pakistan reports that a public rebuke by 50 former US diplomats, including several former ambassadors to countries in the Middle East, may have also helped push the White House in a new direction. Earlier this week the group wrote a public letter "harshly criticizing Bush" for supporting Sharon's plan.

"Your unabashed support of Sharon's extra-judicial assassinations, Israel's Berlin-Wall-like barrier, its harsh military measures in occupied territories and now your endorsement of Sharon's unilateral plans are costing our country its credibility, prestige and friends."
Last month, a group of former British diplomats sent a similar letter to British Prime Miniter Tony Blair, who had also backed Sharon's plan.
Reuters reports that Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said he expected to meet US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice soon in Europe for what would be his highest-level talks with an American official. "I think there will be a meeting and I hope it will be very soon, and I think also it will be in a country in Europe." The US has recently avoided talks with top Palestinian officials, saying they are not doing enough to stop attacks against Israelis by extremist groups.

The Israeli news site, Maariv International, writes that that Bush was "showing signs of capitulating [in his support for Sharon] in the face of pressure from Arab states." The Jerusalem Post reports that many saw Bush's statement as "a radical shift in US policy that deprived the PA of a negotiating card with Israel." Jerusalem Newswire reports that Bush statements confirmed what US officials had been saying since last week – that Sharon was "making a bigger deal" of the president's letter to him about the plan than was warranted.

Sharon, meanwhile, is indicating that he will proceed with his plan. Ha'aretz reports that Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israeli Army Radio on Friday morning, that Sharon intends to dismantle all the settlements in the Gaza Strip, despite his defeat in the Likud party referendum. On Wednesday, Mr. Olmert had told The Jerusalem Post that "There is no such thing as a mini-disengagement plan, and the original one will pass in the cabinet 'within weeks' and become official policy."

But the new plan that Sharon eventually does present to the cabinet may not in fact be the exact same one defeated last Sunday, the BBC writes in an analysis by Martin Asser. A new "disengagement lite" plan may be offered where "Israel may remove the isolated Jewish enclaves in Gaza that aren't connected to the big settlement blocs, and get rid of a few others in the West Bank – perhaps as few as five dismantled settlements in all." But plan may come "unstuck," writes the BBC, because it presents few advantages that the full-scale version offered to both Palestinians and Israelis.

Sharon's plan received a perhaps unexpected note of support this week from the group known as 'The Quartet," composed of the US, Europe, the United Nations, and Russia. Radio Free Europe reports that members of the group, which met Tuesday in New York, issued a statement taking "positive note" of the proposal. The statement also said, however, the most sensitive issues must be negotiated by the two sides. The Quartet believes elements of Sharon's plan could be used as a way to relaunch talks on the "roadmap" to peace outlined last year by Bush.

Finally, on Thursday the UN General Assembly approved a resolution affirming the Palestinians' right to sovereignty over the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. The vote was 140-6, with 11 abstentions. The US and Israel strongly objected to the resolution.