Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 5 December 2003 — US President George W. Bush said yesterday that a new unofficial Middle East peace plan, to be discussed in Washington this week, can only be “productive”.

“I think it’s productive, so long as they adhere to the principles” of that internationally drafted blueprint (road map), Bush told reporters during a public appearance in the White House Oval Office with Jordan’s King Abdallah.

“The position of this government is clear and it’s firm. We appreciate people discussing peace; we just want to make sure people understand that the principles to peace are clear,” said Bush.

The president’s statement came after Israel urged Washington not to meddle in Israeli politics.

In Brussels, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he would meet the architects of the alternative peace plan today. “I will be meeting with them tomorrow,” he told reporters, adding that “it seems to me not inappropriate to listen to the authors... I think it’s quite a reasonable thing, quite an appropriate thing for me to do.”

Former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo have been in Washington this week to press the US administration over the plan.

Powell’s scheduled talks have drawn unusually sharp Israeli criticism of the United States, which has signaled impatience with Sharon’s foot-dragging on the stalled road map.

The Geneva deal has been denounced by Sharon’s right-wing government for agreeing that Israel share sovereignty over Jerusalem and hand over occupied land to Palestinians for a state.

“It is clear only the democratically elected government of Israel has the authority to dispatch negotiators to sit with Palestinians and reach agreements,” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s adviser Dore Gold said when asked about the upcoming talks.

“It is our hope that friendly countries around the world respect the democratic choices of the people of Israel and don’t get drawn into our domestic politics,” he added.

In another defiant gesture, Israel yesterday invited public bids for 98-year leases of 13 plots of land designated for private home construction in a major Jewish settlement in the West Bank, an offer that ran against the road map.

Israel’s Peace Now group, which wants settlements scrapped, said the number of plots on offer in Ariel was small but indicative of government policy to press ahead with construction in settlements.

Israel says it must continue to build in settlements to accommodate the “natural growth” of their populations.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat, commenting on the Ariel land offer, said settlement expansion harmed efforts to revive peacemaking. “We urge the Israeli government at the time we are about to engage in a serious dialogue in Cairo and are preparing for a meeting between the two prime ministers to stop unilateral acts of settlement expansion,” he said.

Separately, the Israeli Supreme Court approved expulsion of 12 Palestinians to the Gaza Strip from their homes in the West Bank, rejecting their appeal of an earlier court ruling, the military said.