WASHINGTON, 25 May 2006 — It wasn’t supposed to be a love fest, but Tuesday’s meeting between President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert turned out so well that even Olmert’s aides announced their pleasure over the warmth of the White House reception.
Before the meeting, “both sides had lowered expectations below the Dead Sea,” David Makovsky, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told reporters.
Now both sides said afterward the two leaders got off to a good start. “The level of comfort between the two men, and the two governments, rose during the visit, and that was really the purpose of the visit,” a senior administration official told the media.
Aides called the visit a “getting to know you summit” with meetings in the Oval Office and the White House residence and a dinner.
The unexpected policy shift had the White House praising Israel’s plan to set its borders with the Palestinians, which will allow unilateral action by Israel to create final borders over Palestinian objections, if the Israelis view a negotiated solution as impossible.
President Bush came short of fully endorsing the convergence plan — newly renamed realignment — but not as short as some of his advisers wanted him to get.
Bush’s qualified endorsement cleared the way for Olmert to pursue his plans for resolving the decades-old territorial dispute with the Palestinians.
Bush did push Olmert during their meetings to sit down with Abbas before proceeding. Olmert has said Israel may pull out as many as 70,000 illegal settlers who live in the West Bank. But another 175,000 Israelis, plus another 200,000 in East Jersualm, live beyond the 1967 borders. Olmert says Israel intends to keep those large settlement blocs.
“Hamas must recognize Israel’s right to exist, must abandon terror and must accept all previous agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel,” Bush said. “I assured the prime minister that our position is steady and strong — that Hamas must change.”During a joint White House press conference on Tuesday, Olmert praised Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas — referring to him as “president,” not chairman as he has always done in the past — and said he would “exhaust” every possibility for peace. But, he added, if Israel discovered that negotiation was not possible, “we will be compelled to try a different route” — a clear reference to his plans for a unilateral withdrawal. Olmert also said he wanted to complete his plans within three to four years.
Many Palestiains view Olmert’s “realignment” as a major land grab because he inteneds to keep major West Bank enclaves and East Jerusalem within Israel.
Olmert was quoted by Israel Radio on Tuesday as saying that he would be “willing to devote six to nine months to find a Palestinian partner” before turning to his unilateral plan.
