WASHINGTON, 12 April 2005 — President George Bush hosted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his Texas ranch yesterday, where it appears the two men locked horns over their discussions on the expansion of key Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

“I told the prime minister not to undertake any activity that contravenes the road map (US-backed peace plan) or prejudices final status obligations,” Bush told reporters after the two met at the president’s Texas ranch. The meeting “didn’t go as well as it was supposed to,” an Israeli journalist at Crawford told Arab News by phone yesterday.

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 in Crawford, Texas, Sharon also said Israel would not move forward on the road map until the Palestinians take more steps to crack down on and disarm militant groups and ensure “a full cessation of terror.”

While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has begun to act against terror organizations, recent violence against Israel shows that “terror is still continuing” and that Abbas “must take more steps.”

“It should be completely quiet,” he said.

Bush had praise for the Palestinian leadership, but also made clear more must be done.

“I appreciate the fact that they’ve taken some action on security,” Bush said of the Palestinians. “We want to continue to work with them on consolidating security forces.”

The expansion issue amounted to a rare, if gentle, nudge from Bush to Sharon and overshadowed a meeting originally designed to give the Israeli leader support for a controversial plan to dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank.

The United States has objected to an Israeli plan to add 3,650 homes to the West Bank’s largest settlement, Maaleh Adumim. The plan would cut off Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

Israel insists it has the right to continue expanding these settlements. The United States opposes any further construction there, saying it threatens peace with the Palestinians and violates the road map that calls for a settlement freeze.

Bush said he reiterated to Sharon the road map’s immediate demands: That Israel remove any unauthorized outposts in the Palestinian territories and “meet its road map obligations regarding settlements in the West Bank.”

Sharon pledged to Bush that he would remove “unauthorized outposts.”

“As to settlements, Israel will meet all its obligations under the road map,” he said.

The Gaza pullout, scheduled for July and August, would remove about 9,000 Israelis from their homes. Sharon said the plan, for which he is under fire at home, has generated a tense atmosphere in Israel.

Referring to the mood in Israel, Sharon said in an interview with NBC News, “The tension here, the atmosphere here looks like the eve of the civil war. All my life I was defending life of Jews. Now for the first time, steps I’m taking to protect me from Jews.”

Bush heralded Sharon for “his courageous initiative to disengage from Gaza and part of the West Bank” and for his willingness to coordinate it with Palestinians.

“I urge the Palestinian leadership to accept his offer,”he said. “By working together, Israelis and Palestinians can lay the groundwork for a peaceful transition.”

Sharon also told NBC that “maybe for the first time, there is a possibility to try and solve the problem” after there being no chance when former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was still alive.

The meeting was the first in a series of Bush meetings with Mideast leaders over the next month.

The president has made the spread of democracy in the Middle East a goal of his second term.

He also plans to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at his Texas ranch on April 25 and will see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when he visits the United States next month.

— With input from agencies