Post by Moses on Mar 25, 2005 21:13:22 GMT -5
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Last update: March 25, 2005 at 6:28 PM
U.S. backs Israel on West Bank settlers
Ravi Nessman
Associated Press
Published March 26, 2005
JERUSALEM -- The U.S. ambassador on Friday reaffirmed Washington's support for Israel to retain major West Bank settlements under any Middle East peace deal just days after Israel announced plans to expand a settlement outside Jerusalem, angering Palestinians.
Ambassador Dan Kurtzer told Israeli news media it was unrealistic to expect Israel to withdraw from the entire West Bank. He said he was simply reiterating the policy announced by President Bush last year.
But the interview came at a sensitive time and irritated Palestinians already angry over Israel's announcement this week that it would add 3,500 housing units to Maaleh Adumim, the largest West Bank settlement.
In an interview published Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Maaleh Adumim expansion was "at odds with American policy." It was her sharpest criticism of Israel since taking office in January.
Calling the project "not really a satisfactory response," Rice told the Los Angeles Times that the United States expressed its concerns this week to the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whom the Bush administration has staunchly supported.
U.S. National Security Council official Elliott Abrams and State Department official David Welch raised the issue with Israel during a visit to the region this week, U.S. Embassy spokesman Paul Patin said.
The government told the envoys that while it had approved the plan, it had not made a final decision on whether to begin construction, a senior Israeli official said Friday.
The construction plans have infuriated the Palestinians, who claim all of the West Bank as part of a future state. The plan is especially contentious because it would link Maaleh Adumim to eastern Jerusalem, separating Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
Senior Palestinian officials told the U.S. envoys that the expansion would endanger peace prospects, undermine efforts by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to end violence and isolate east Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of a future state.
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