GAZA, 29 March 2005 — Palestinians yesterday ruled out a future state with Jewish settlements in the West Bank even as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated that Israel would keep its largest settlements there under a permanent peace agreement.
“Retention of these blocs is extremely dangerous because it would invalidate a viable state which (US) President (George W.) Bush has articulated in his vision,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei told reporters.
Bush has declared his determination to enforce a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United States is one of the four co-sponsors of the stalled road map peace plan that sought to create a Palestinian state by 2005.
But in an interview broadcast on Sunday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated that any final Middle East peace deal will have to take into account the biggest Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian lands. Speaking to Israeli public radio, she said she was clarifying contradictory reports of US policy over the weekend.
“These blocs, which the American administration has legitimized by giving its support to Israel make the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible,” hit back Qorei.
Sharon told his weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday that “large Israeli settlement blocs will remain in Israeli hands in any future settlement with the Palestinians.”
“This position won the unprecedented backing of the entire American government,” Sharon added, saying that this was outlined in a letter from Bush on April 14, 2004.
“This is a letter that the president sent to the prime minister, its public, anyone can read it,” Sharon added.
