Free Republic

During a joint press conference with US President George W. Bush on Monday evening [Israel time], Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated Israel's understanding that major Israeli population centers in the West Bank would remain in Israel's hands even after final status negotiations. In his prepared statement, Bush reiterated that any final status agreement would have to take into account realities on the ground and that it was unrealistic to expect a return to the 1949 armistice lines. Bush also repeated the US understanding that one of Israel's obligations under the road map was to cease all expansion of settlements. Bush...