Furious Palestinians Reject Bush Pledges to Israel

Furious Palestinians Reject Bush Pledges to Israel
Wed Apr 14, 2004 05:42 PM ET

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4829860§ion=news


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By Wafa Amr
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 of Israel's right to retain settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Bush referred to the sprawling suburban settlements as "new realities on the ground" that made it unrealistic for Israel to retreat to the borders of 1967, the year it captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Middle East war.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won the commitment from Bush as part of his unilateral plan to "disengage" from conflict with Palestinians by pulling settlers out of Gaza and cementing a hold on West Bank settlement blocs behind new security lines.

"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. "

I hope everyone realizes that this is an admission of Israel's right to exist. If Israel itself is an occupation of Palestinian land, then Bush is not the first President to acknowedge an occupation. Therefore, Qurie admits that Israel has a right to exist!

I bet that's not what he meant, though.

Hamas on the other hand is a different matter.

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NT!

Hamas or Israel? Is this the game plan by Bush?

His Saudi pimps or his own compatriots.

.