Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with U.S. President George Bush this evening. Expectations are that Bush will pressure him to begin implementing the Mitchell Report even before the ceasefire takes effect. Sources in the U.S. report that Bush will demand a unilateral announcement of an Israeli settlement freeze in Judea and Samaria.
Sharon emphasized again last night that he will not conduct negotiations \"under fire\" with the PA, and said that he has made this clear to President Bush. American Jewish grassroots organizations are protesting the fact that the Bush-Powell pressure on Israel continues despite the continuation of Palestinian violence. The Virtual Israel Political Action Committee, for instance, providing a channel for written support for Israel (www.vipac.org), calls upon Bush to realize that this \"is a poor policy for your administration to advocate, and is a prescription for more bloodshed... If Arafat\'s ally in Cuba, Fidel Castro, started shooting mortar shells, anti-tank grenades, and machinegun fire at Miami Beach or the Florida Keys, killing and wounding American citizens in the process, would you negotiate with Castro under fire?... Don\'t let any of your advisors pressure Prime Minister Sharon to negotiate with the PLO under fire, or to offer territorial rewards for the PLO\'s acts of terror. Rewarding terrorism is a dangerous game...\"
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, however, appears to be welcoming American pressure regarding a settlement freeze. He said yesterday that essentially, \"a freeze is already in effect. Actually, a freeze is only the third stage of the Mitchell plan - first comes a ceasefire, then a cooling-off period, then confidence-building measures, such as freezing settlements - such that there is nothing to even talk about regarding such a freeze until six weeks after it begins. But in practice, the coalition negotiations stipulate that there be no new settlements, and we also agreed that there would be no land-expropriations to expand existing settlements, and then we added a third thing, to which the government, Mr. Sharon, agreed, and that is that there be no new construction outside the built-up areas within the existing towns - such that in practice, there is a freeze on construction in Yesha...\"
Sharon emphasized again last night that he will not conduct negotiations \"under fire\" with the PA, and said that he has made this clear to President Bush. American Jewish grassroots organizations are protesting the fact that the Bush-Powell pressure on Israel continues despite the continuation of Palestinian violence. The Virtual Israel Political Action Committee, for instance, providing a channel for written support for Israel (www.vipac.org), calls upon Bush to realize that this \"is a poor policy for your administration to advocate, and is a prescription for more bloodshed... If Arafat\'s ally in Cuba, Fidel Castro, started shooting mortar shells, anti-tank grenades, and machinegun fire at Miami Beach or the Florida Keys, killing and wounding American citizens in the process, would you negotiate with Castro under fire?... Don\'t let any of your advisors pressure Prime Minister Sharon to negotiate with the PLO under fire, or to offer territorial rewards for the PLO\'s acts of terror. Rewarding terrorism is a dangerous game...\"
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, however, appears to be welcoming American pressure regarding a settlement freeze. He said yesterday that essentially, \"a freeze is already in effect. Actually, a freeze is only the third stage of the Mitchell plan - first comes a ceasefire, then a cooling-off period, then confidence-building measures, such as freezing settlements - such that there is nothing to even talk about regarding such a freeze until six weeks after it begins. But in practice, the coalition negotiations stipulate that there be no new settlements, and we also agreed that there would be no land-expropriations to expand existing settlements, and then we added a third thing, to which the government, Mr. Sharon, agreed, and that is that there be no new construction outside the built-up areas within the existing towns - such that in practice, there is a freeze on construction in Yesha...\"