WASHINGTON — President Bush made a fundamental shift in Middle East strategy Wednesday, recognizing long-standing Israeli claims to major settlements in the West Bank as part of an agreement under which Israel would withdraw from the Gaza Strip and portions of the West Bank.
Bush also adopted the Israeli position on the resettlement of Palestinian refugees, saying they should find homes in a future Palestinian state and should not expect to return to their former homes in Israel. In doing so, Bush bypassed negotiating steps envisioned in a U.S.-backed peace process.
Bush's pronouncement, which drew an immediate angry reaction from Palestinian leaders, moves U.S. policy into closer alignment with Israel, which has in effect extended its borders by building scores of settlements on land seized from Arabs in the 1967 Middle East War.
The announcement, made in an exchange of letters at a White House summit with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, boosted the Israeli leader's prospects for winning support at home for his Gaza disengagement plan, which would lead to the evacuation of about 7,500 Jewish settlers now guarded by Israeli troops.
But it also drew criticism from United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said through a spokesman that a Mideast peace plan "should be determined in negotiations between the parties, based on relevant Security Council resolutions."
It was not immediately clear how the announcement would affect Bush's relationship with Arab leaders, whose support he had sought to help stabilize Iraq.
Previously, the position of the U.S., which had been the broker of Mideast peace negotiations, had been that all Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories were an impediment to peace. The United States has also said neither side should take action outside negotiations under the U.S.-backed peace plan known as the "road map."
Administration officials said the new stance was designed to breathe life into the peace process by encouraging -- critics might say "provoking" -- Arab states into putting more pressure on Palestinian extremist groups to end suicide bombing attacks and for Palestinian Authority leaders to engage in negotiations that would lead to a Palestinian state.
At the White House ceremony with Sharon, Bush portrayed his endorsement of Israel's plan to unilaterally leave Gaza as part of an effort to reinvigorate the peace initiative, which in effect has been moribund for months.
