‘U.S. stands by Bush’s commitments’
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon says Americans assured him President Bush’s letter to Prime Minister Sharon regarding major settlement blocs still valid
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon told Ynet he has received repeated assurances from top White House officials that President George W. Bush’s commitments to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from April 14, 2004 remain valid.
Two senior American officials have told Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon over the weekend the understandings between Israel and the U.S. that are based on President George W. Bush’s letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from April 14, 2004are still relevant.
“If someone is attempting to create embarrassment and confusion because he opposes the disengagement – he will not succeed,” one of the officials said.
The remarks came after Yedioth Ahronoth reported that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer, speaking at a closed session with Foreign Ministry cadets, denied Sharon and Bush reached any understandings on the matter.
At the time, Bush said in a letter to Sharon “In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. And all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion.”
According to Ayalon, the letter alludes to the Israeli West Bank settlement blocs in Maale Adumim, Gush Etzion, and Ariel.
The dispute between Israel and the U.S. is not related to Bush’s letter, but rather to Israel’s plans regarding the expansion of existing settlements. The Bush administration contends such a move would pre-determine the results of the negotiations on a permanent agreement with the Palestinians.
Washington has publicly expressed its objection to Israel’s plans to expand Maale Adumim.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israel’s plans to add 3,500 housing units to the Maale Adumim settlement east of Jerusalem were "not really a satisfactory response."
Rice called a Washington Post reporter twice Friday to clarify the American position on Jewish settlement expansion, saying Israel and the U.S. have no agreement on the matter.
The two sides are engaged in talks ahead of a possible freezing of settlement activity, Rice noted, and added the question is a complex one and has not yet been resolved.
Israeli government sources said a distinction must be made between U.S.- Israeli agreements regarding the major settlement blocs and the understandings pertaining to settlement expansion.
“Regarding construction within the settlements, there is nothing new in what we are hearing from the U.S.,” a government source told Ynet. “We were never in agreement on the construction in the settlements, and the Americans have been opposed to construction in Maale Adumim for some time.”
As to the major West Bank settlement blocs, a Prime Minister’s Office source said both the Americans and Israel are abiding by the agreements reached between Bush and Sharon in April 2004.
