Bush Endorses Israel's Plan on West Bank

"WASHINGTON - In a historic policy shift, President Bush on Thursday endorsed Israel's plan to hold on to part of the West Bank in any final peace settlement with the Palestinians. Bush also ruled out Palestinian refugees returning to Israel, bringing strong criticism from the Palestinians.

...."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20040414/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bush_sharon


*****

Is Bush an idiot? Does he expect this to help us rally Muslims to our side? How many soldiers will die when radical Muslims read this and see it as confirmation of their worst fears? Bush should have kept his mouth shut.

:eyes:

Pathetic...just plain pathetic.

Most Neocons are supporters (members?) of the Likud party.
Our foreign policy (down to tactics on Arab suppression in
Iraq) is now in lockstep with the hard right of Israel. We don't
tell them what to do, they tell us... talk about tail wagging
the dog!

This will likely result in more violence, in the occupied territories and elsewhere, rather than prompt a resolution to the problem.

riiiiiiight...it's becoming MUCH clearer now...

Israel will never negotiate in good faith or cease the apartheid. The Palestinians have no hope for a just peace unless they make the oppression too costly for Israel to bear. One day, "settlements" stolen from the Palestinians will be among the most dangerous places to live on Earth. One day the Palestinians will have justice.

offered Arafat/the Palestinians everything and I mean everything they wanted and Arafat turned it down. He later said if he had made
peace with Israel he would have been assasinated by his own people.

In case you don't get the picture, that means the Palestinians don't want negotiations, their own state, or peace.

America under Bush has stopped being an honest broker of peace - true, but let's stick to the facts here.

One day, "settlements" stolen from the Palestinians will be among the most dangerous places to live on Earth. One day the Palestinians will have justice.

That's a strange statement. Didn't Israel win the war in 1967 and gained the land (temporarily) through that war? Gee I seem to recall
that Israel is the only country in the world that was ever ordered to
return the land it won in the war.

Alice in Wonderland lives. Clue: where everything is upside down/inverted, I guess

saddem's WMD related programs may be there. he reminds me of captain redlegs in "the outlaw Josey Wales". "there's lots of work to be done in Texas."
wage peace -----it's cheaper in the long run.

Mind you, I am in no way referring to the leaders of Isreal as 'hitler-like' but damnit, the act alone reminds me of when Europe just handed over Poland to Germany.

This is just wrong. I respect the fact that the jews need their own country, but so do all those displaced palistineans.

Bush just pissed off all of the Middle East with that Blunder. It was best to NOT get involved.

<<<<does her best primal scream>>>>>

one person one vote. they talk a good game, but when the vote won't go their way it ain't democratic. LOL if it were not tragic and dangerous.
Wage peace

part. Since UBL hates Israel and Jews, it seems to me to outright be provoking an attack on us. Maybe that's what the chimp is hoping for, I think he thinks another attack in the states will make him and his ideology look good and assure his re-election.

Too bad Sensenbrenner is the Chairman of the Judicial Committee. Anyone else would have started impeachment hearings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/15/politics/15PREX.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=

April 15, 2004
MIDDLE EAST

In Major Shift, Bush Endorses Sharon Plan and Backs Keeping Some Israeli Settlements

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

ASHINGTON, April 14 — President Bush on Wednesday recognized Israel's right to retain some West Bank settlements as part of any peace accord with the Palestinians as he formally endorsed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. He called the plan "historic" and "courageous."

In a major shift in American policy that was already angering many Arabs on Wednesday night, Mr. Bush said that Israel should not have to return to its pre-1967 borders, and that Palestinians and their descendants who lost their land in Israel in 1948 should eventually be settled in a Palestinian state, not back in Israel. The president's pronouncement effectively ruled out any "right of return" by Palestinians.

"In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949," Mr. Bush said in a news conference with Mr. Sharon in the Cross Hall of the White House.

Mr. Sharon, who beamed at Mr. Bush's side throughout their 24-minute appearance, said his plan would create "a new and better reality" for Israel.

Mr. Bush did not specifically mention, as Mr. Sharon had wanted, that Israel should retain five West Bank settlements that have been growing for decades and now hold some 55,000 people. Administration officials said Mr. Bush left his language vague to avoid angering Palestinians even more than expected.

..more..