Politics - AFP
Sharon failure a setback for Bush administration
Date: Mon, May 03, 2004
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The failure of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) to get the support of his party for a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) is an embarrassment for President George W. Bush (news - web sites) who had thrown his weight behind the plan.
And the new blow to US efforts in Israel-Palestinian conflict came on top of mounting difficulties in Iraq (news - web sites).
Some experts say these could aggravate the climate in the Middle East and Europe's attitude toward US policy in the region.
Following the result of the vote by Sharon's Likud party, the White House said in a statement that it still supported Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and some territory on the West Bank.
"Our own view has not changed: The president welcomed Prime Minister Sharon's plan to withdraw settlements from Gaza and a part of the West Bank as a courageous and important step toward peace," said the White House.
"We will be in consultation with the prime minister and the government of Israel about how to move forward."
The statement gave no hint however about the best way forward.
Bush stunned many Arab governments with his strong support for Sharon's plan when the Israeli prime minister visited Washington on April 14.
Sharon proposed withdrawing from all of the Gaza Strip but only six of the 10 settlements in the West Bank. Bush also said Palestinian refugees could not expect to return to territory their families had occupied before 1948.
On Tuesday, the diplomatic quartet -- the United States, Russia, the European Union (news - web sites) and the United Nations (news - web sites) -- will meet at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss its "roadmap" for the Middle East. US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) will take part in the meeting.
The second important appointment for the United States will be when King Abdullah of Jordan carries out a visit to Washington that was postponed two weeks ago because of Bush's support for the Sharon plan.
The visit could go ahead Thursday, according to US sources, but no firm date has been given.
Some US newspapers said the defeat for Sharon was also bad for the Bush administration.
The Los Angelese Times said the Likud vote also "dealt a blow Sunday to President Bush's Middle East policy that he could ill afford after a month of setbacks."
The Washington Post, in an analysis piece titled "Gamble on Sharon goes awry for Bush," added that Likud's non-binding vote was "a blow to US credibility."
"The backlash in Arab and European countries was especially intense," the Post said.
Henry Siegman, an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York think tank, said the vote could encourage the US administration to keep out of efforts to end the Middle East conflict.
"The lessons to be learned for President Bush I suspect given the history of his administration's involvement in the Middle East is that the less the US is involved the better off it is.
"My impression is that they are simply going to stay as far away from this as possible and not change anything."
Siegman said that the deadlock between Israelis and Palestinians, and US difficulties in Iraq were strongly linked "in a very destructive way".
"In the imaginations of people in the Middle East this deeply reinforces their view of a connection between what is happening (in the Palestinian teritories and in Iraq). This defines for them western mentalities."
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