(Washington Times) The Bush administration played a major behind-the-scenes role in pressing Israel to broaden a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to include four Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said Thursday. That and other changes were the price Israel had to pay for securing President Bush's written endorsement of the plan in a letter he presented to Prime Minister Sharon in Washington in April, Ayalon said. "We were thinking just of Gaza. They suggested [some withdrawal] from the West Bank. I think this is a very major change....We agreed to modify our plan...so they really had their imprint," he said. Ayalon said intense American involvement in the peace process is not always necessary. "Nobody could have been more involved than President Clinton, and it didn't work. It's not a matter of American involvement that is a major factor in success," he said. "It's a matter of having a partner."
2004-08-13 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive