The U.S. government is demanding that Israel coordinate its
disengagement plan from the territories with the Palestinian
Authority according to a report in Ha'aretz. The
American government is seeking to avoid any chaos that might
emerge in the areas Israel quits, and to strengthen the
connection between the evacuation of settlements and the road
map.
The report claims that word from the White House and U.S.
State Department reaching Jerusalem in recent days is
emphasizing this point.
The U.S. is not demanding that Israel negotiate with the
Palestinian government over the "security line" to which the
army would withdraw in Gaza and Judea, Samaria, and Israel
could make these decisions unilaterally. But Washington
expects the implementation to be coordinated in advance with
the PA so the latter will be able to prepare to accept
responsibility for the territory that is evacuated.
The U.S. administration is thus trying to prevent Hamas from
taking over Gaza after Israel withdraws.
According to Ha'aretz, the U.S. also wants to present
the disengagement as part of an overall process or
arrangements, that is as part of the Road Map, and not as a
unilateral move of force by Israel like the separation fence.
This would presumably soften international opposition to
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan.
The U.S. position is therefore called "coordinated
unilateralism." Dennis Ross, the former U.S. Middle East
negotiator, once presented such an idea as an alternative to
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which collapsed.
Sharon has so far promised to coordinate his moves with the
U.S., which has already put up red lines to the disengagement
plan: no annexation of any part of the West Bank as
"compensation" to Israel for quitting Gaza; no eastern fence
in Judea and Samaria; no organized transfer of evacuated
Gazan settlers into Judea and Samaria settlements to
strengthen settlement blocs there.
U.S. officials Steve Hadley and Elliot Abrams of the National
Security Council and William Burns of the State Department
were due here this week to hear firsthand from Sharon, his
bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, and his national security
advisor, Giora Eiland, what the prime minister actually has
in mind when he speaks of disengagement. Sharon wants an
invitation to Washington to present the plan to President
George W. Bush.
