RAMALLAH, 1 November 2007 — The US has renewed pressure on Israel to evacuate illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank and has asked it to broaden efforts to help West Bank Palestinians in the run-up to the Annapolis peace summit next month, Israeli sources said yesterday.
According to the sources, US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said during talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem late last week, that the US Administration expects Israel to take measures that will assist Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hadley’s message was that if Israel wants to delay the discussions on the core issues — refugees, Jerusalem and borders — it must help the Palestinians change the situation on the ground and evacuate the outposts.
Israel has promised to evacuate all the outposts set up in the West Bank after March 2001, but has failed to abide by this. The US administration has not raised the issue for the past three years in light of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
The sources added that Hadley also made it clear that the White House is fully coordinated with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, dismissing any impression that Rice is acting independently and that her efforts do not enjoy the backing of President George W. Bush.
Rice is due to return to the region early next week, and will continue her meetings with the two sides in preparation for the Annapolis summit, which is expected to take place in about a month. Hadley has met twice with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and several senior Israeli officials.
A meeting was also held with Dov Weissglas, who handled ties with the White House during the tenure of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. An Israeli political source said that Olmert will not remove outposts before the Annapolis summit. “He will not light a fire or (cause) internal disputes and then take off for Annapolis,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Western and Israeli officials are exploring whether sending an international force to the Palestinian territories could overcome Israeli security concerns to remove one of the main obstacles to peacemaking.
Some advisers close to Olmert see a big international force as possibly the only way to satisfy Israel’s security needs during the time it would take to create a Palestinian force able to combat and disarm militants.
Peacekeepers have long been envisaged as part of any final peace deal and the Palestinians have voiced support for their deployment as a way of loosening Israel’s military grip.
The idea under discussion could mean inserting foreign troops, starting in the occupied West Bank, before a peace deal. Israel has in the past argued that peacekeepers would interfere with its security measures and do little to rein in militants. The fact that the Gaza Strip is under the control of Hamas Islamists could make it hard to deploy such a force there.
Diplomats said that if Israel agreed, it would likely insist on combat-ready forces under US command, with troops from Europe and regional powers like NATO member Turkey, a secular Muslim country that has strategic ties with the Jewish state.
US Gen. Keith Dayton already serves as security coordinator between Israel and the Palestinians. It is unclear if the White House could contribute American troops given public opposition to the war in Iraq.
Ahead of a US-led conference on Palestinian statehood, Olmert has told his Cabinet he would not implement any agreements until the Palestinians can fulfill their security obligations under a long-stalled “road map” peace plan.
Given Israeli doubts Abbas’ forces would be able to disarm militants, some diplomats and Israeli officials say a foreign force may be the only available option in the 14 months left in Bush’s term. While US officials see improvement in Abbas’ security capabilities, they acknowledge his forces have a long way to go.
