US treading delicate line on Israeli settlements
AFP
Date: 03-30-05
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is treading a delicate diplomatic line between Israelis and Palestinians, seeking to keep the thorny issue of Jewish settlements from derailing the newly revived Middle East peace process, analysts said.
They said Washington has sought to ease Palestinian anger over Israeli expansion plans on the West Bank without putting too much pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as he prepares a crucial pullout from Gaza.
President George W. Bush's administration has opposed any settlement growth as a violation of the US-backed peace "road map" aimed at resolving the 54-month-old conflict and establishing a Palestinian state.
But in recent days the US position has been somewhat muddied by a flurry of statements in reaction to Israel's announced intention to build up the largest West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that expansion plans were "at odds with American policy" for a freeze on settlement activity as provided in the road map, which also bars natural growth.
But a day later she was less clear, telling the Washington Post the administration has had "discussions about steps towards a settlement freeze" but "we've never reached closure on that. It's complicated."
Rice and US ambassador Dan Kurtzer also alarmed the Palestinians with public comments echoing Bush's position that existing large Israeli settlements would have to be taken into consideration in final territorial negotiations.
Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli denied Tuesday there was any confusion in US policy and insisted the Americans were working with both sides to fullfil their commitments under the road map.
"We've also made it clear to both sides that neither should take actions that prejudge issues for final status negotiations," he told reporters. "And that certainly applies to the issue of settlement activity."
Analysts saw the United States as seeking to maintain margin for maneuver on the emotional issue ahead of a US visit by Sharon next month and a later trip by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.
Tamara Wittes, a Middle East analyst with the Brookings Institution, said the United States wanted "wiggle room" on the settlements to allow other elements of the peace process to progress, such as Palestinian security and political reforms.
"I think the US has tried for a long time to maintain a certain flexibility on this issue in order to be able to respond to the needs of parties at any given moment," Wittes told AFP.
Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program for the Center for Strateigc and International Studies (CSIS), agreed that Rice likely made her comments with an eye on the upcoming Sharon-Bush meeting.
"You don't want to paint your boss into a corner. So I presume this will be worked out in the back channels before that meeting and then discussed at the meeting," Alterman told AFP.
Other experts said the United States understood Sharon's need to talk tough on the West Bank settlements to offset lingering opposition within Israel to his plans to withdraw from Gaza starting this summer.
At the same time, they said, Washington recognized the risks for Abbas, who needs to show concrete progress in dealing with the Israelis in return for his efforts to rein in Palestinian militants and curb violence.
Judith Kipper, director of the Council of Foreign Relations' Middle East Forum, said the settlement issue was re-emerging "in the middle of a tense time. ... It's obviously a time when both Sharon and Abu Mazen have very, very serious consituency problems at home."
Some analysts felt that Israel might be using the expansion plans for Maale Adumim and other West Bank settlements as a bargaining chip, perhaps to be abandoned later in return for political capital to be spent elsewhere.
None of those questioned felt the settlements issue would seriously disrupt the peace talks that have taken on new life since Abbas replaced the late Yasser Arafat in January.
"The process can't succeed without its share of white-knuckle moments," Alterman said. "This is not the worst that it's going to get."
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