Posted on 04/14/2005 12:12:25 PM PDT by SJackson
April 13 - Prompted by reporters, the president and the prime minister left no one in any doubt about their sharp differences over Israeli plans to expand a handful of settlements in the West Bank. Speaking outside George Bush’s Texas ranch after their Monday meeting, the president insisted the situation was simple. “Israel has obligations under the Roadmap,” he said, standing beside Ariel Sharon. “The Roadmap clearly says no expansion of settlements.” Sharon, for his part, insisted that the settlements in question were already major population blocs and would remain part of Israel under any final agreement with the Palestinians.
But while the rest of the world focused on the tension between Bush and Sharon, behind the scenes the mood among White House aides was far more upbeat. Sharon first discussed his disengagement plan—and the annexing of parts of the West Bank—with Elliott Abrams, Bush’s hawkish White House adviser on the Middle East, in November 2003. At the time, the security situation in Iraq had worsened significantly and the Gaza pullout looked like a breakthrough in the region. Today, the White House is once again counting on the Gaza withdrawal as a critical step in its self-styled march of freedom across the Middle East. White House aides say they believe the pullout will proceed “smoother than anticipated” with little resistance from Israeli settlers who will be uprooted (some of them forcibly).
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Sounds like a Munich to me!
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