Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
August 22, 2004
The New
York Times on Saturday quoted American and Israeli officials as saying
that the Bush administration has changed its stance on Israeli
construction in the West Bank, and now supports building in existing
settlements, although not in undeveloped areas.
The paper says
that this new U.S. policy, although not publicly declared, was illustrated
in the American response Tuesday to the invitation for tenders for the
construction of some 1,000 new apartments in West Bank settlements.
A White House spokesman said Tuesday that the tenders were being
studied and that it was not possible to determine whether the commitments
had been violated.
The American national security advisor,
Condoleezza Rice, said two days later that the Israeli government had been
asked to "let us know what it is that they are doing."
While Rice
later added that "settlement expansion is not consistent with our
understanding under the road map," the construction of the new apartments
has been classed as natural growth rather than expansion.
In the
past, Washington has met the issuing of such tenders with calls for Israel
to keep to the terms of the U.S.-sponsored road map, which bans all forms
of settlement construction.
Saturday's newspaper report quotes a
Bush administration official who said that the recent U.S. statement on
the new settlement construction points to "a covert policy decision toward
accepting natural growth" in some settlements. The road map includes a ban
on any settlement construction.
According to the paper, the
official said that the Bush administration has made the decision in an
effort to avoid a confrontation with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is
currently fighting opponents to his disengagement plan within the
Likud.
The Prime Minister's Office refused to respond to the New
York times report, and stated that, "We are indeed discussing the matter
with the United States."
The disengagement plan includes a complete
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of four settlements in
the northern West Bank.
But, says the report, some administration
officials also admitted that Bush was wary of censuring Israel too
strongly, for fear of alienating its supporters among the conservative
voter base.
"Some American officials acknowledged, in addition,
that President Bush was reluctant to criticize Israel during his
re-election campaign, which is counting on support from conservative
supporters of Israel," the paper said.
The decision drew
condemnation Saturday from both Peace Now and Meretz-Yahad MK Yossi Sarid.
The decision "creates an opening for a new wave of construction in
all the settlements and distances Israel from resolving the conflict with
the Palestinians," said Peace Now, adding that it also delivered a severe
knock to the road map.
Sarid warned the U.S. administration that
it is "mistaken if it believes American Jews support the destructive
policies of the settlers."
He accused Sharon of taking advantage of
the American presidential elections to further his own agenda.
"The
Israeli government is exploiting the U.S. election campaign and is turning
the U.S. administration into a laughing stock by continuing to build in
the settlements," he said.
Two weeks ago, in response to American
requests for clarification, Sharon delayed tenders for the construction of
more than 1,000 housing units in the settlements, among them many of those
issued Tuesday.
U.S. delegation to arrive in September for talks
on settlement 'building limits'
A team of experts from Washington
is expected to arrive in Israel in September to accompany talks on
freezing settlement expansion and outpost evacuation. The talks are
currently being conducted by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer and
Baruch Shpiegel, an advisor to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. The talks in
September are to determine "building limits" in each settlement, beyond
which additional construction will be forbidden.
Dov Weisglass, an
advisor to Sharon, will set out for Washington in the first week of
September for a meeting with Rice. The two will discuss the amended route
of the West Bank separation fence. The U.S. administration requested that
Israel present the route ahead of an expected hearing on the fence in the
United Nations. The U.S. said that if Israel requests that deliberations
and decisions in the UN Security Council on the fence be prevented, the
administration wants to know ahead of time what it is being asked to
defend.