Israeli leader arrive in Texas for decision over Gaza withdrawal

Israeli leader Ariel Sharon came to Texas on Sunday for talks at President Bush’s ranch for the crucial decision of Gaza withdrawal slated for July, the first removal of Jewish settlements from occupied land Palestinians want for a state.

Sharon aides noted that some Israeli residents have lived in the Gaza for decades, and uprooting them will be the most difficult thing the government has done since capturing the land in the 1967 war.

With withdrawal scheduled to start in July, officials said, Sharon would need all the help he can get from the U.S. government, as some Gaza residents claim they will have to be dragged from their homes.

“It will be heartbreaking to many of us,” Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.

For his part, Sharon pledged in July to begin relocating some 9,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, as agreed on in an earlier accord. Bush calls it a significant step toward peace.

But the Israeli prime minister also backs plans to expand a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem that is vigorously opposed by the Palestinians.

The expansion would add 3,500 homes, linking Jerusalem with Maale Adumim, a settlement in the West Bank.

Many analysts see Sharon’s plan for expanding settlements on the West Bank as a way to ease political pressure on his government. That plan calls for a freeze of Israeli “settlement activity” as part of mutual steps with the Palestinians leading to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

The Bush administration has warned Israeli officials that the plan violates the terms of the so-called Road Map for Peace in the Middle East, which called for a strict halt to settlement expansion in the West Bank.

White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said Sunday that the president is not easing up on Sharon. She cited statements Bush made Friday, when he said: “What I say publicly, I say privately. And that is the road map has clear obligations on settlements, and that we expect the prime minister to adhere to those road map obligations.” The “road map” he referred to was a plan drawn up by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations that calls for Israel to freeze settlements, the Palestinians to disarm militants and both sides to negotiate over disputed territory, including settlements. The eventual goal would be more security for Israel and an independent state for Palestinians.

The focus of Monday’s meeting will be the withdrawal plan and “the day after,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

“The whole thing may stand or fall on whether Bush is firm enough on no expansion of existing settlements. The issue has raised all kinds of hell with the Palestinians,” says Michael Hudson, Arab studies director at Georgetown University.

But while Bush opposes the prime minister’s expansion plans, he also wants to express support for Sharon over the politically difficult business of forcing thousands of Jewish settlers out of Gaza.

Speaking to reporters late last week, Bush said he would also “be talking to the prime minister about the need to work with the Palestinian government, President (Mahmoud) Abbas, to facilitate success.”

As Bush and Sharon prepared to discuss these issues, many Arabs remained skeptical about how hard the American president would push his Israeli counterpart on either Gaza or the West Bank. They noted that many of the religious conservatives who back Bush are strongly pro-Israel and that Bush once described old warrior Sharon as a “man of peace.”