U.S. urges Olmert to take lower profile on convergence plan

As Prime Minister Ehud Olmert prepares for his first official trip to Washington next week, he appears to be taking a step back from vocally advocating the convergence plan.

Olmert told Kadima ministers yesterday that he plans to present his plan to the Bush administration, but that only after "three, or 10, months," will it be possible to announce there is no Palestinian negotiation partner and move on to unilateral steps. The plan involves withdrawal from large swaths of the West Bank, but not from major settlement blocs.

He told Kadima ministers that the primary objective of his upcoming trip is to create chemistry with U.S. President George W. Bush, with whom Olmert will meet at the White House Tuesday. Olmert said the key issue on the table will be the Iranian nuclear threat. Olmert is planning to describe the severity with which Israel views the threat, and explain that the country is not leading the international struggle against Iran, but expects the United States and other countries to do everything they can to halt the threat.

Olmert's decision to tone down his stance on the convergence plan may be related to staunch opposition worldwide to Israeli unilateral moves in the territories.

Prior to his meeting with the ministers, the prime minister received a message from the three envoys he had sent to Washington to prepare the ground for his visit - Dov Weissglas, Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turjeman - and the message might have concerned the American stance on convergence.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/717173.html
Last update - 23:51 18/05/2006

Olmert hints won't talk details of pullout plans with U.S.

By Haaretz Service

Ahead of his trip next week to the United States, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the New York Times on Thursday that the convergence plan is "a dynamic concept" requiring preparation.

"It has to be very carefully examined and very, very sensitively elaborated before we know precisely how to define it," he told the Times. "What I can talk about at this point is the basic desire to set borders for Israel, to separate from the Palestinians, and to create a contiguous territory that will allow the Palestinians to fulfill their national dreams and establish their own independent state alongside the state of Israel."

He said the convergence plan "needs to be coordinated with a lot of sensitivity with our different partners, particularly the United States government and the president, and of course, the United Nations, the Europeans, the Russians." (excerpted)

excerpt...

Olmert's decision to tone down his stance on the convergence plan may be related to staunch opposition worldwide to Israeli unilateral moves in the territories. Prior to his meeting with the ministers, the prime minister received a message from the three envoys he had sent to Washington to prepare the ground for his visit - Dov Weissglas, Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turjeman - and the message might have concerned the American stance on convergence.

The U.S. wants Olmert to adopt a low profile on unilateralism and dedicate the next few months to negotiation efforts, although it has not retreated from its stated support of the plan in principle.

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