US AND ISRAEL SEEK COMMON GROUND ON WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS

U.S., Israel Search for Common Ground on Settlement Construction - Herb Keinon
Israel and the U.S. are drafting a statement on settlement construction that will come out of next week's meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon that is vague enough for both sides to live with, a senior diplomatic official said Tuesday. "To present the settlement issue as the major issue right now is counterproductive to the interests of both Israel and the U.S., which are to get disengagement under way and to get Abu Mazen to act against terrorism," the official said. He added that the statement will have sufficient leeway for Israel to interpret it to mean that it can build in densely populated settlement blocs, but not in isolated settlements, without getting an overt U.S. okay. Israel is expected to agree not to take any action that may jeopardize final-status arrangements with the PA. (Jerusalem Post)

Sharon: "Link Jerusalem to Maale Adumim" - Allyn Fisher-Ilan
Prime Minister Sharon told lawmakers Monday, "We must link Jerusalem to Maale Adumim." Sharon believes an extension of Israel's biggest settlement, home to 30,000 people, is in line with Bush's assurance to him last year that the Jewish state could expect to keep some large settlement blocs under a final peace accord. Israel considers all of Jerusalem its undivided capital. Building up Maale Adumim is viewed by Sharon as a way of safeguarding that claim. (Reuters)

See also Israel Seeks Bush Commitment - Barry Schweid
Prime Minister Sharon is counting on President Bush to keep his commitment that Israel can retain several large Jewish towns near Jerusalem as part of a peace accord with the Palestinians, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday. On a Sharon visit to Washington a year ago Bush voiced his support for Israel retaining Maale Adumim and a few other Jewish population centers near Jerusalem in any peace accord with the Palestinians. The president said the demographic situation in that part of the West Bank had changed. (AP/Washington Post)

Bush: Road Map Calls for No Expansion of Settlements
President Bush said Tuesday, "Our position is very clear that the road map is important, and the road map calls for no expansion of the settlements." (White House)

See also Rice: No Prejudging Final Status Issues
Secretary of State Rice said Tuesday, "The President said...there are certain realities on the ground, including large population centers, that will have to be taken into account when a final status agreement is reached, and making it unlikely that there would be a return completely to the armistice line. Now, the President was also very clear that this has to be something that is negotiated. So we want to be very clear about the President's language because anything that appears to prejudge how that negotiation might come out is not what the President said. What he did say is: all the parties are going to have to take into account the existing realities. And population centers are a part of that reality." (State Department)