- The United States will assure Israel that it will not
have to withdraw to the Green Line in a future permanent settlement with
the Palestinians.
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- The promise appears in a letter of guarantees drafted
by the American administration in exchange for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
disengagement plan.
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- The U.S. rejected Israel's request to recognize the future
annexation of the large settlement blocs in Ma'ale Adumim, Ariel and Etzion.
Instead of referring explicitly to the settlements, the Americans propose
a vaguely worded letter, which Israel would be able to present as implied
recognition of the settlement blocs.
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- The American draft also says the Palestinian refugees
will be able to return to a future Palestinian state, which will be established
in keeping with President George Bush's vision. This wording will partially
meet Israel's demand that the U.S. declare its objection to the right of
return, which the Palestinians insist on.
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- Two principles guided the administration in drafting
the letter of guarantees to Israel - support for the disengagement plan
and providing answers for Sharon's political needs, and refraining from
taking political or legal undertakings which could tie the U.S.'s hands
in the future and hinder its contacts with its friends in the Arab world
and Europe. The Americans don't want Egypt and other countries to pressure
them to give counter guarantees to the Palestinians.
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- This evening, Sharon will meet American envoys Steven
J. Hadley, Elliot Abrams and William Burns, who came to agree on the final
version of the letter of guarantees that Sharon will receive at his meeting
with Bush on April 14.
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- Israel is also asking for public American recognition
of the separation fence route, after it agreed to put off building the
problematic section of the fence near Ariel and putting up an intermittent
fence in the "enclaves" opposite Ben-Gurion Airport and along
Road 443.
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- "The public did not elect me prime minister to keep
my seat warm for four years," Sharon said yesterday at a speech at
the high-tech conference in Tel Aviv. He said the disengagement plan is
"an initiative that will prevent political collapse."
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- He explained there were several reasons behind the plan,
including the danger of pressures on Israel to accept diplomatic plans
that were harmful, and the threat of international bodies to stop assisting
the Palestinians, which would lead to a "humanitarian collapse"
and to "pointing an accusing finger at Israel."
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- Sharon said that in exchange for the disengagement, the
U.S. will state in writing that it is against any plan that endangers Israel,
that "does not condition progress on eliminating terror."
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- Sharon said the withdrawal from Gaza would "deprive
the Palestinians of the historic excuse that the Israeli presence is preventing
them from acting against terror."
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- Opposition chair MK Shimon Peres is trying to promote
to the U.S. a $5 billion guarantee package for developing the Negev. Peres
presented the idea to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary
of State Colin Powell last month. A few days ago he discussed it with World
Bank President James Wolfensohn.
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- At these meetings, which Sharon knows of and agreed to,
Peres presents the evacuation of Gaza as a springboard to developing the
Negev, according to the vision of the first prime minister David Ben-Gurion.
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