Israeli Plan Divides U.S. Conservatives

Israeli Plan Divides U.S. Conservatives
WASHINGTON, May. 20, 2006
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/20/ap/politics/mainD8HNL0M80.shtml#top

(AP) Jewish organizations and leaders in the U.S.
are divided over Israel's
plan to redraw the country's borders on its own
if it cannot quickly
negotiate peace with the Palestinians, and are
giving the White House
conflicting advice about whether to support or
fund the effort.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wanted a public pledge
of support from President
Bush when he visited Washington this week. The
White House, however, has
indicated an endorsement is premature. Olmert,
who meets with Bush on
Tuesday and addresses a joint session of Congress
on Wednesday, reportedly
has dropped plans to ask during this trip for
additional U.S. aid for the
border plan.

The proposal presents Bush with a foreign policy
headache abroad and a
political dilemma at home.

In the United States, the realignment is widely
opposed by conservative
Jewish voters whom Bush has courted with strong
support for Israeli
security. Conservative Christian leaders,
including television evangelist
Pat Robertson, who back Bush have endorsed the
expansion and defense of
Jewish settlements.

If Olmert presses ahead, his plan would violate a
main principle of the
U.S.-backed plan for peace and the eventual
creation of an independent
Palestinian state. Under the plan Bush helped to
produce, neither the
Israelis nor the Palestinians are supposed to
take unilateral steps that
prejudge final decisions about disputed
territory.

Olmert's approach would complicate the U.S.
relationship with the
Palestinians, now at a low point because of the
election victory of militant
Islamic leaders in January. Many Arab states
oppose the plan, including
important U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Jordan;
European nations are wary.

The United States has avoided taking a public
position. The Bush
administration views Olmert's visit as a chance
to assess the prime
minister's resolve and preparation, White House
and State Department
officials said. They said the U.S. does not
consider the plan to be
completed.

Bush also wants to urge Olmert to try to
negotiate with the Palestinian's
moderate president, Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert says he
cannot do that.

The nuclear threat posed by Iran will also be a
main topic.

Olmert won elections in March with a promise to
pull tens of thousands of
Jewish settlers from the West Bank while
fortifying major Jewish settlement
blocs.

Olmert says Israel prefers to negotiate, but will
stake out its final
borders with the West Bank if the Hamas-led
Palestinian government does not
recognize Israel and disarm. His program
continues the policy of his
predecessor and strong Bush ally Ariel Sharon,
who has not recovered from a
stroke in January.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president of
the National Council of
Young Israel, said he is a strong supporter of
the president and would be
disappointed if Bush backed a plan that, Lerner
said, would intensify the
threat against Israel and others and strengthen
Hamas. Hamas has claimed
responsibility for dozens of suicide attacks on
Israel and is classified by
Israel and the United States as a terrorist
group.
"We're not for giving away land, especially when
you get nothing for it,"
Lerner said. "You don't get peace, you don't get
security."

Dov Hikind, a New York assemblyman, is urging
supporters to tell the
administration that Olmert's plan is a sop to
Hamas and will prove too
expensive. Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat, was in
Israel on Friday to visit
Jewish settlements that the border plan would
threaten.

"I am seeing with my own eyes what Ehud Olmert
plans to do, which would be
absolutely horrible, unconscionable," Hikind said
by telephone. "I don't
want to see American tax dollars going for the
purpose of expelling Jews
from their homes."Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign
aid at more than $2 billion
a year. A full-scale withdrawal from the West
Bank could cost $10 billion or
more, and Olmert is expected to ask for U.S. help
at some point.

Hikind led a group of 40 American Jews and
evangelical Christians who camped
with Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip last
summer, before Israel
unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and dismantled
its settlements there.
Gaza was seen as a step toward Sharon's eventual
goal of withdrawal from
parts of the West Bank that he saw as
indefensible and a long-term liability
for Israel.

Several large, mainstream U.S. Jewish
organizations support Olmert's plan.

"We believe it is in the interest of the United
States and Israel to try to
resolve some of the dilemmas that occur in the
area by giving greater
certainty to Israel's borders and making it
easier for Israel to defend
itself," said Neil Goldstein, executive director
of the 50,000-member
American Jewish Congress.



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