Historic US policy shift: Bush approves Sharon's W Bank plan

By: Mohamed Ali

WASHINGTON: In a historic US policy shift that drew instant condemnation from the Palestinians, US President George W. Bush on Wednesday implicitly recognized Israel's claim to some West Bank settlements and backed a Gaza Strip pullout plan.

Bush's support for Sharon will go down well with conservative and Jewish voters in the US presidential election but was likely to inflame the Arab world and further complicate efforts to stabilize Iraq. The announcement marked a transfer from the decades-old US policy of viewing the Jewish settlements as an obstacle to peace.

During a news conference with Sharon, Bush said: “In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.”

“Bush is the first US president to give legitimacy to Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. We reject this. We will not accept it,” Palestinian Premier Ahmed Qurie said while talking to newsmen in West Bank.

The US president also appeared to negate any right of return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel, saying they should be resettled in a future Palestinian state instead.

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9/11 panel slams FBI and Ashcroft; Bush admin defended

WASHINGTON: The US commission investigating the September 11 attacks broadly criticized on Tuesday FBI and the Justice Department for failing to meet the threat from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda.

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