Israel West Bank plan endorsed by Bush, rejected by Palestinians

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Breaking with long-standing U.S. policy Wednesday, President Bush endorsed Israel's retention of part of the West Bank in any final peace settlement with the Palestinians. In a show of support for Israel's leader that brought immediate condemnation from the Palestinians, Bush also ruled out Palestinian refugees ever returning to Israel.\nAn elated Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his plan would create "a new and better reality for the state of Israel."\nBut minutes after Bush spoke, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said in Ramallah "he is the first president who has legitimized the (Israeli) settlements in Palestinian territories."\nQureia added, "We as Palestinians reject that. We cannot accept that. We reject it, and we refuse it." Separately, anticipating what Bush would say, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had earlier called it "the complete end of the peace process."\nBush, in an historic news conference with a broadly smiling Sharon, endorsed the Israeli leader's plan to pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank as "courageous."\nThe president said there were "new realities" on the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war. Bush said major Israeli population centers in the West Bank now make it "unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return" to pre-war borders.\nPast U.S. administrations had anticipated only minor changes in the old borders as part of a final peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Bush's statement went much further, amounting to a clear endorsement of Sharon's proposal that some large Jewish settlements must remain on the West Bank temporarily and a backing of the Sharon position that some Jewish settlements must always remain there.\nBush's endorsement of Sharon's plan came with no Palestinian leaders present -- in what was sure to be seen by the Arab world as a strong favoring of Sharon and a slight to the Palestinians. Palestinian leaders had previously said they had been assured by the Bush administration they would be consulted before any Bush endorsement of Sharon's plan.\nBush urged the Palestinians to match Israel's "boldness and courage."\nSpecifically, Bush said a final peace deal should call for Palestinian refugees to be settled in a Palestinian state, not in Israel.\nBush said the "realities on the ground and in the region have changed greatly" and should be reflected in any final peace deal -- a key concession, sought by Sharon, to the fact Israel has large groups of settlers in the West Bank.\nSharon said he was encouraged by Bush's support, which the Israeli leader had sought as a way to boost his own party's support. The Israeli leader said his "disengagement" plan would improve Israel's security and economy and set the right conditions for negotiations with the Palestinians.\nAsked outright if the United States recognized Israel's right to keep some settlements in the West Bank, Bush said Sharon had started the process of removing settlements from the West Bank.\nHe said final decisions about Israeli settlements in the West Bank had to wait for "final status" negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians on a Palestinian state.\nBush emphasized the security fence Israel is building against Palestinian terror attacks "should be temporary rather than permanent and therefore not prejudice any final status issues, including final borders."\nBoth the Palestinians and Israelis have responsibilities to undertake in the search for peace, Bush said. Today, Israel "stepped up to those responsibilities," Bush said, and Palestinians must do the same.\n"If all parties choose to embrace this moment, they can open the door to progress and put an end to one of the world's longest-running conflicts," Bush said.\nSharon is hoping Bush can help him persuade hardliners in his Likud Party to back a withdrawal. Some 200,000 Likud members are to vote on the pullout plan, and approval is not assured.\nSharon has said he would honor the outcome of the vote, but has not spoken about resigning if he loses. However, Tuesday his vice premier, Ehud Olmert, referred to such a possibility. If the Likud members vote no, "they are destroying the political basis of the government headed by Sharon," Olmert told Israel Army Radio. Olmert said some opponents of the disengagement are trying to topple Sharon.