Bush steps up pressure on Israel
US President George W Bush has told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that his forces must withdraw from the West Bank immediately and expressed ‘‘deep concern’’ about the escalating offensive.
Mr Bush’s blunt message to Mr Sharon in a 20-minute conversation yesterday reinforced what the president said at a news conference just hours earlier and created an uncomfortable stand-off between allies.
In Israel, Mr Sharon’s office said the Prime Minister told Mr Bush that Israel would expedite its offensive in the West Bank and that Israel ‘‘is conscious of the American desire to see the operation ended quickly’’.
But the President was not looking for a quicker offensive; he wants Israeli troops withdrawn.
‘‘Israel should halt incursions in the Palestinian-controlled areas and begin to withdraw without delay from those cities it has recently occupied,’’ he said during a news conference with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair.
A senior Bush administration official said the President wanted action - not just words - from Mr Sharon.
‘‘He told the Prime Minister that Israel needs to make progress now and that Israel needs to defuse the situation so diplomacy can work,’’ the official said.
The terse exchange of official statements followed shortly after the news conference in which Mr Bush and Mr Blair agreed the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein’s regime. But they said they have not settled on a way to deal with the Iraqi president.
‘‘I can’t imagine people not seeing the threat and not holding Saddam Hussein accountable for what he said he would do,’’ Mr Bush said of Saddam’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. ‘‘And we’re going to do that.’’
Mr Bush was answering critics, including European allies, who do not want the US military to try to overthrow Saddam.
As storm clouds blew across Mr Bush’s secluded ranch in Texas, the leaders discussed grim news from the Middle East: Israeli assaults, aimed at Palestinian militants, have spread throughout West Bank refugee camps despite the President’s call on Thursday for Israel to withdraw its troops.
A day before US Secretary of State Colin Powell was leaving for the Middle East to push for a ceasefire, Mr Bush stepped up pressure on Israel. For the first time, he directly called for an immediate pull-back.
Mr Blair sought to soften the blow for Israel. ‘‘I think that most people in Israel will realise that they don’t have two greater friends in the world than the United States of America or Britain,’’ he said.
An Israeli government spokesman said Israel would ‘‘give a lot of weight to their opinions’’.
Mr Bush refused to say whether there would be consequences for Israel if Mr Sharon refused to withdraw.
‘‘I expect Israel to heed my advice, and I expect for the Palestinians to reject terror,’’ he said. ‘‘And the Arab world, as Israel steps back, we expect the Arab world to step up and lead.’’
Aides said the president has become increasingly frustrated with Mr Sharon who, in Mr Bush’s view, has stubbornly clung to his position that the attacks are the only way to defend Israel against terrorist strikes.
