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The level of logic that President George Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon showed at their Crawford meeting is tantamount to declaring a commitment to combating obesity by setting up chocolate factories on every corner and giving free chocolates to anyone who says they are committed to loosing weight. And if they don't commit, well, give it to them anyway, to appease the United Nations of Weightwatchers. In their recent email exposing the dishonest reporting about the Crawford meeting, Honestreporting.com [posted below] enumerated what actually was discussed and agreed upon in Crawford. The points are self-contradictory to the core. Point...

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....

WASHINGTON - It is difficult to describe a pair more different from one another than George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon. The physical differences are obvious. One is from a tiny village in mandate-era Palestine, the other the son of patrician Americans. One is an eternal opposition figure who barely made it to the top, and the other is a president son of a president. One is a warrior and general and the other a rear guard pilot whose national service is a matter of controversy. At least their farms are about the same size. The invitation to Sharon to...

CRAWFORD, Texas — President Bush and Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon pledged Monday to press for peace in the Middle East, yet Sharon adamantly resisted Bush's plea to refrain from settlement expansion in the disputed West Bank. The highly public standoff between the two leaders centers on Sharon's intention of building new housing between Jerusalem and the community of Maale Adumim, the largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Bush sternly calls the plan a violation of the "road map to peace" that Israeli and Palestinian leaders have embraced. Sharon calls it essential to ensuring that any lasting peace accord...

[Israeli version]Statements by US Pres Bush and PM Sharon following meeting - Apr 11, 2005 Statements by US President George Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon following meeting Texas - April 11, 2005 [Information Department, Israel Foreign Ministry - Jerusalem] PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to my home. Appreciate you coming. I appreciate our meeting. I'm looking forward to serving you some good food for lunch. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to driving you around the ranch - I want you to see my place. I know you love the land. The Prime Minister was telling me he's really...

Israel to Disarm Settlers in West Bank By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press Writer April 11, 2005, 12:29 PM EDT JERUSALEM -- Jewish settlers in four West Bank settlements will be disarmed about two weeks before they are to be removed from their homes this summer, Israeli military officials said Monday. But settlers said they would not give up their weapons. The showdown, reflecting growing concern that resistance to a West Bank pullback will be intense, came as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told NBC's "Today" in an interview aired Monday that "now for the first time steps I'm taking to protect...

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking at a new conference with President George W. Bush in Texas on Monday, said large West Bank settlement blocs would remain in Israeli hands in the framework of any final status agreement with the Palestinians. "The settlement blocs will remain in Israel's hands in any final-status agreement no matter the repercussions entailed," Sharon said. "We are very interested in having (territorial) contiguity between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, however the matter will take many years and we will have many more opportunities to discuss it with the Americans," Sharon added.

During a joint press conference with US President George W. Bush on Monday evening [Israel time], Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated Israel's understanding that major Israeli population centers in the West Bank would remain in Israel's hands even after final status negotiations. In his prepared statement, Bush reiterated that any final status agreement would have to take into account realities on the ground and that it was unrealistic to expect a return to the 1949 armistice lines. Bush also repeated the US understanding that one of Israel's obligations under the road map was to cease all expansion of settlements. Bush...

CRAWFORD, Texas Apr 11, 2005 — President Bush, concerned about the progress of negotiations toward peace in the Middle East, prodded Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Monday to abandon plans to expand a key Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Sharon said he agreed with Bush on the general outlines of the internationally negotiated "road map" peace plan, but that some settlements in the West Bank are considered part of Israel and would remain under his government's control. Standing at Bush's side, Sharon also said Israel would not move forward on the road map until the Palestinians take more steps...

During a joint press conference with US President George W. Bush on Monday evening [Israel time], Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated Israel's understanding that major Israeli population centers in the West Bank would remain in Israel's hands even after final status negotiations. In his prepared statement, Bush reiterated that any final status agreement would have to take into account realities on the ground and that it was unrealistic to expect a return to the 1949 armistice lines. Bush also repeated the US understanding that one of Israel's obligations under the road map was to cease all expansion of settlements. Bush...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: President Bush met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the ranch in Crawford, TX, today. Their meeting included a tour of the rance and a press conference. QUOTES OF THE DAY: GWB's opening remarks at the joint press conference. Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to my home. Appreciate you coming. I appreciate our meeting. I'm looking forward to serving you some good food for lunch. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to driving you around the ranch - I want you to see my place. I know you love the land. The Prime Minister was telling...

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip may resort to "civil war" when the Jewish state orders a pull-out of the region altogether later this summer. In an interview with NBC News, Sharon – in Crawford, Texas Monday for talks with President Bush – said point-blank he expects settlers to rebel "before and during" the withdrawal. "One should not underestimate the tension here, the atmosphere here. It looks like on the eve of a civil war," he told the network. The danger is so grave, in fact, that Sharon says for the first time, he...

Remove outposts, shelve the project to build in Maaleh Adumim, make more withdrawals in Judea and Samaria - these are some of the demands PM Sharon is likely to hear from Bush at his Texas ranch. As Prime Minister Ariel Sharon exchanges the view from his Sycamore Ranch for the Texas ranch where he will be meeting with President Bush on Monday, he is likely to come under renewed American pressure to make further withdrawals from areas in Judea and Samaria. The first demand will probably be for Sharon to fulfill prior commitments to tear down the new Jewish communities...

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. (Reuters) - Israeli leader Ariel Sharon flew on Sunday to President Bush's Texas ranch and criticized a barrage of Palestinian mortar fire at Jewish settlements in Gaza as a "flagrant violation" of a truce deal. Sharon landed outside Washington to refuel before continuing on to Texas amid the worst outbreak of violence in Gaza since he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called a cease-fire at a Feb. 8 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The Israeli army said more than 70 mortars and rockets had been fired at Jewish settlements in Gaza since Saturday, after Israeli...

Prime minister, president discuss Sharon U.S. visit http://www.ynetnews.com/article,L-3067430,00.html Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Moshe Katsav are meeting at this time to finalize details regarding Sharon’s planned trip to the U.S. next week. In the meeting, Sharon referred to incitement graffiti on the graves of some of the nation’s leaders, and said: “every radicalization is severe to me. We should avoid extreme measures that will lead us to places no one wants to get to.” (Doron Shefer

Relaxing at his Texas ranch, President Bush stayed out of sight while Iraq grew bloodier and Washington swirled with questions about his pre-Sept. 11 actions. Democrats began to ask where was the president at such a crucial moment. Even Republicans started to worry about Bush's absence. Questions about Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks could prove troublesome for Bush's re-election campaign. The president's handling of Iraq and the fight against terrorism are central themes of his campaign, and polls show that public confidence in how he has dealt with both has dropped recently. After five quiet nights at his ranch,...

So, what did we get? After months of expectation and postponement, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Wednesday finally got his audience with US President George W. Bush. Since the beginning of the year, we have been told day after day, "Just wait and see." So now that the visit is behind us, what did we get? What did Sharon bring back from Washington? On the positive side, we received American acknowledgement of Israel's basic right as a sovereign state to defend itself against aggression. This is no small feat today. In acknowledging that Israel can defend itself, Bush said something that...

WASHINGTON - United States President George W. Bush clarified Friday that the agreement he reached with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon earlier this week, did not predetermine the charachter of a permanent status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. "All final status issues must still be negotiated between the parties," Bush said. "I look forward to the day when those discussions can begin so the Israeli occupation can be ended and a free and independent and peaceful Palestinian state can emerge." Bush said "this is a fantastic opportunity" to launch the Palestinians to a state on land occupied by Israel. With...

In a historic departure from US policy, President George W. Bush on Wednesday said Palestinian refugees should be resettled in a future Palestinian state, rather than return to Israel. He also gave a nod to Israel's intention to retain control of West Bank settlement blocs by saying it would be "unrealistic" to expect a complete return to the Green Line as part of a final peace deal given "new realities on the ground." Bush spoke at a news conference after meeting in the White House residence with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who formally presented his plan for unilateral withdrawal from...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian leaders denounced President Bush's pledge to Israel on Wednesday that it could keep parts of the West Bank as a rejection of Palestinian rights endangering the region's future. "Bush is the first U.S. president to give legitimacy to Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. We reject this, we will not accept it," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told reporters at his West Bank home. "Nobody in the world has the right to give up Palestinian rights," the moderate premier said in reaction to what appeared to be a historic policy shift -- Bush's implicit recognition...