Bush gives Sharon guarantee of West Bank

U.S. President George Bush will give Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a written guarantee that Washington would never press its close alley to withdrawal from the entire occupied Palestinian West Bank under any peace settlement, according to reports Sunday, April 11.

During their White House summit Wednesday, April 14, Bush will give Sharon a written pledge that Israel will not be asked in the future to withdraw to the 1949 cease-fire lines (the Green Line) on the West Bank, reported Israeli Ha’aretz Sunday, April 11.

The letter will also state that the determination of borders in a final status accord will take into consideration "demographic realities" on the ground, it added.

The American document will include a declaration that Palestinian refugees can be absorbed in the future in the Palestinian state, not return to their original homes inside what is now Israel.

It will also recognize Israel's right to carry out "anti-terror" operations in areas from which its forces are to be withdrawn, according to Ha’aretz.

Israel and Washington usually describe Israeli extrajudicial executions of Palestinian resistance leaders and activists as acts of self defense and part of a war on terror.

"Israeli officials believe the section of this letter from Bush referring to final status borders is highly significant," reported Ha’aretz.

"They believe it constitutes U.S. recognition of Israel's future annexation of West Bank settlement blocs and the negation of a right of Palestinian refugee return to Israel."

In a reciprocal letter, Sharon will pledge to bring his controversial disengagement plan to his cabinet and to the Knesset for approval.

It will reaffirm intention to withdraw from the entire Gaza Strip, including all 21 Jewish settlements, and evacuation of four Jewish settlements in the northern West Bank.

Sharon will also seek Bush's support for the route of his controversial Separation Wall constructed in the West Bank.

A U.N. report maintained the wall marked illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the world community.

Sharon's bureau chief Dov Weisglass and national security advisor Giora Eiland have already left for Washington for final preparatory talks with Bush administration officials.

Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Minister Saeb Erakat warned any deal between the U.S. and Israel undermining a final status agreement would wreck the whole peace process.

"During our contacts and meetings (with three senior American officials earlier this month) we demanded that the Israelis would refrain from taking any steps or measures that would undermine the final status issues," Erakat told AFP.

"We warned that if any such steps are taken, this would torpedo the peace process and that the occupation should be not be rewarded."

On the ground, Israeli occupation forces gunned down Sunday a 36-year-old Palestinian man inside his home near the northern West Bank town of Nablus during a raid to detain his brother.

The body of Mohammed Abu Khabr, who was hit in the head in the village of Akraba, was handed over by Israeli forces to Palestinian medics, hospital sources said.

Mayor Ghalib Maydneh said the victim had been shot when he opened the window of the family home as Israeli troops came to arrest his brother, Ibrahim Abu Khabr, a member of the Al-Aqsa Brigades.

Ibrahim Abu Khabr and a second activist from the Brigades were both detained by the occupation forces, the mayor told AFP.

The latest death brought the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian Intifada against the occupation forces to 3,900, including 2,933 Palestinians and 898 Israelis, according to an AFP count.

A 12-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by Israeli fire in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis Saturday, April 10.