US ENVOY: ISRAEL MAY NOT QUIT ALL SETTLEMENTS

U.S. envoy: Israel may not quit all settlements
JERUSALEM - The U.S. ambassador said Friday it was unrealistic to expect a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank under a final Middle East peace deal, days after Israel announced plans to expand a major settlement outside of Jerusalem.

Ambassador Dan Kurtzer, speaking on Israel Radio, said he was reiterating U.S. policy made by President Bush last year. But the remarks came at a sensitive time, just days after Israel announced plans to expand Maaleh Adumim, its largest West Bank settlement....

Kurtzer’s remarks Friday came after the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot quoted him as telling a group of Foreign Ministry cadets that there is no understanding between the United States and Israel over future control of settlement blocs. Kurtzer angrily denied the Yediot report, saying it had “no basis in fact.”

“What I tried to explain to them is exactly what U.S. policy is. And U.S. policy is the support that the president has given for the retention by Israel of major Israeli population centers as an outcome of negotiations,” he said.

He later called Sharon, told him he was misquoted and reiterated the existing U.S. policy, Sharon spokesman Assaf Shariv said.

THE 1967 BORDERS ARE UNDEFENSIBLE. UN RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CALL ON ISRAEL TO WITHDRAW TO THOSE BORDERS.