WASHINGTON – The White House yesterday called on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to stop building new settlements – just days before Sharon is due to meet President Bush in the Oval Office.
The U.S. demand came a day after Secretary of State Colin Powell, in unveiling plans for a Mideast peace conference this summer, said, “There will have to be a cessation of new settlements and something will have to be done about the settlements that are there now.”
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday: “The American position and President Bush’s position is that construction of new settlements is not helpful.”
Pressed on whether that is a call for a halt, Fleischer replied: “The president agrees with that.”
But so far, the White House has ruled out any effort to pressure Israel by threatening to withhold U.S. aid unless new settlements cease – an approach taken by Bush’s father when he was president.
Sharon – a big proponent of the settlements as fulfilling Israel’s destiny and protecting its security – has told allies in Israel that he will hold firm on the issue, but has publicly hinted at wiggle room.
Asked if he’d ever dismantle settlements, Sharon this week told ABC:
“We will have to make painful concessions. I’m not going to say anything more now because everything I’ll be saying now will become the start line of the future negotiations.”
He seemed to be signaling he is ready to bargain over the settlements – not simply dismantle them unilaterally.
Under the 11th-hour deal offered by former President Clinton at the end of his term but rejected by Yasser Arafat, Israel would have returned 97 percent of Gaza and the West Bank.
Some key settlements in the West Bank would have remained part of Israel, with land elsewhere given to the Palestinians in a trade.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials tried to low-ball expectations for the summer Mideast conference, saying it will be at the lower ministerial level – rather than heads of state – meaning neither Arafat nor Sharon is likely to attend.
The White House said the goal is “to listen to different people and to explore a variety of ideas” rather than to reach a comprehensive peace deal as many Arab states, like Saudi Arabia, are demanding.
The conference was announced Thursday by Powell after meeting with European Union, Russian and U.N. officials – who’d all be involved at the conference. Its date and location have yet to be set.
Richard Perle, a Reagan-era defense official who is strongly pro-Israel, said: “A conference this summer that focuses on what kind of Palestinian entity is worthy of statehood is a positive development.”
JEWISH SETTLEMENTS: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: How many Israeli settlements are there in the West Bank and Gaza?
A: An estimated 130 on the West Bank and 16 in Gaza.
Q: How many Israelis live there?
A: About 213,000.
Q: What are the incentives to live there?
A: Many see the area as part of the land that God promised to the people of Israel. Others are drawn by the benefit of favorable mortgages and low rents.
Q: How many new settlements have been built since Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister in February 2001?
A: A total of 34, according to the Israeli activist group Peace Now. But settlers say these aren’t new outposts, just “natural growth” of existing settlements.
Q: Have recent violence and homicide bombings affected settlement rates?
A: Yes. They are growing at the slowest rate in years – 4.4 percent for the first nine months of last year, just half the rate of the 1990s.
Q: Have any settlements ever been dismantled?
A: Yes, some sources say 14 outposts were shut down when Ehud Barak was prime minister.