US President George Bush's top strategist on the Middle East conflict has told private gatherings of scholars and Jewish leaders that Jewish settlements outside Israel's controversial barrier through the West Bank will have to be dismantled. The comments by Elliot Abrams, a senior director at the National Security Council, exceed previous Bush Administration statements and have sent a signal to tens of thousands of settlers that they are on untenable ground. But by specifying that these settlements must be abandoned, Mr Abrams indicated that Israel would be able to hold on to its most populous settlements and continue building the...