Ehud Olmert Puts Bush in a Quandary

Author: 
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
Publication Date: 
Wed, 2006-05-24 03:00

WASHINGTON, 24 May 2006 — After weeks of research and polls, Ehud Olmert introduced a new buzzword at the White House yesterday during his first meeting as Israeli Prime Minister with President Bush. Olmert and his aides decided on the word “realignment” to describe his withdrawal plan from most of the Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

But the plan, which involves the departure of about 60,000 Israelis from 72 illegal settlements, comes at an awkward moment for the Bush administration.

The administration is trying to win European support for unified action to impede Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but many European officials fear Olmert’s plan is an attempt by Israel to set permanent borders without negotiation with the Palestinians.

Also, the United States does not want to appear as though it is endorsing an Israeli land grab as Olmert has said he intends to keep significant settlements near Jerusalem, including much of Jerusalem, and other significant parts of the West Bank.

To further complicate matters, US Jewish organizations and leaders also are divided over Israel’s plan to redraw the country’s borders on its own without negotiations with the Palestinians, and are giving the White House conflicting advice.

The “realignment” is widely opposed by conservative US Jewish voters whom Bush has courted with strong support for Israeli security. Conservative Christian leaders, including television evangelist Pat Robertson, who back Bush have endorsed the expansion and defense of Jewish settlements.

Olmert wanted a public pledge of support from President Bush, but the White House has indicated an endorsement is premature. Olmert reportedly has dropped plans to ask Bush during this trip for additional US aid for the border plan. Israel estimates the evacuation of the illegal Israeli settlers and the termination and maintenance of the unilaterally drawn border could cost as much as $10 billion, and it is hoping Washington will foot much of the bill.

Due to these high stakes, overseas marketing is crucial, Israeli officials told reporters. Which brings us back to the word “realignment.” Israeli officials debated three English words: convergence, consolidation and realignment. But the Israel Project, a non-profit media advocacy group, Monday released results of a poll that found 78 percent of Americans reacted positively to the “realignment plan.”

Despite clever wordplay, political analysts think Olmert will have a tough time selling the scheme to the US government, as the proposal presents Bush with a foreign policy headache abroad and a political dilemma at home. If Olmert presses ahead, his plan would violate a main principle of the US-backed plan for peace and the eventual creation of an independent Palestinian state. Under the plan Bush helped to produce, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are supposed to take unilateral steps that prejudge final decisions about disputed territory.

Bush intends to urge Olmert during the six-hour summit that began at 3 p.m. EST to try to negotiate with the Palestinian’s moderate president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said he did not expect “anything formal” to emerge from the White House meeting. The president and the prime minister “are going to be talking about ways to keep moving forward” with peacemaking, Snow said.

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