Posted on 03/25/2005 1:24:27 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
On Thursday, Washington sources said that the Bush Administration did not plan to publicly confront the Israeli government over newly approved plans to build 3,500 new homes to the west of Ma'aleh Adumim.
According to the sources, quoted on Israel Radio, the administration, while opposed in principle to all expansion of settlements and to the new building at Ma'aleh Adumim in particular, does not want to spark a row on the issue with Sharon so as not to further complicate his efforts to push the budget through the Knesset this week and thus cement the legislative process ahead of the summer's US-backed disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.
Meanwhile, senior Palestinian officials asked two US envoys on Thursday to help block the expansion of Ma'aleh Adumim, saying it endangers peace prospects, undermines their efforts to show that moderation brings results and isolates east Jerusalem – their intended capital.
Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said the envoys expressed opposition to the Israeli plan to build in an area known as E1 between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, which Erekat said would fill in the last piece of empty land.
Erekat told the envoys, National Security Council official Elliott Abrams and David Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, that US opposition was not enough. "You have to pressure Sharon to halt all settlement activities... if you want the peace process to have credibility," he reported telling them.
There are 32,000 residents of Ma'aleh Adumim. The plan to expand the settlement has been around for about a decade, but was approved earlier this week by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
The envoys questioned Sharon about the plan on Wednesday. US officials have repeatedly criticized plans to enlarge Ma'aleh Adumim over the years, and the US-backed "road map" peace plan, presented in 2003 by US President George W. Bush, bans all construction in settlements.
PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei told Abrams and Welch he expected Washington to take a clear position against Israeli settlement expansion plans.
While championing disengagement, Sharon has repeated Israel's claim to all of Jerusalem and hopes to reinforce main settlements in the West Bank, including Ma'aleh Adumim.
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