West Bank plan, Iran on Olmert's agenda for US visit

Washington, May 22: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived for his first visit to Washington, where he will offer President George W. Bush an overview of his sweeping plan for the West Bank and discuss the Iranian nuclear crisis.

With Olmert's proposal still in its infancy and peace hopes dimmed after a Hamas-led Palestinian government came to power in March, major decisions are unlikely during the four-day visit.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has also slipped down the US agenda as Bush confronts mounting unpopularity at home, constant challenges in Iraq and the prospect of a nuclear Iran.

Olmert, a senior Israeli official said, will present ''convergence ideas'' to Bush but along with the US leader publicly restate a commitment to the peace ''road map'' championed by the president and backed by the international community.

Under the West Bank plan, Olmert intends in the absence of a Palestinian peace partner to remove dozens of isolated Israeli settlements in the occupied territory, bolster major enclaves Israel says it intends to keep forever and set a border by 2010.

Those go-it-alone steps, condemned by the Palestinians, could spell the end of the road map, which charts reciprocal ''confidence-building'' moves and negotiations culminating in the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

In Washington, an administration official said Bush had no intention of rendering a decision in Tuesday's meeting but would begin probing whether Olmert's plan was compatible with a US desire not to prejudice the outcome of final-status peace talks.

In an interview with The New York Times Thursday, Olmert described his proposal as a ''dynamic concept'' requiring preparation and coordination with the United States and other Middle East peace brokers.

Softening his unilateral approach ahead of the US trip, he also said: ''I don't believe that at any time in the future we will change things without talking to the Palestinians.'' Olmert's two top deputies, Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, were yesterday to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been scrambling to salvage diplomacy since Hamas ousted his more moderate Fatah faction.

Peres wants peace talks

Peres said the talks, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Egyptian resort of Sharm e-Sheikh, would focus on the Palestinian fiscal crisis, which has deepened with recent US-led sanctions on the Hamas government. He did not rule out a discussion about how to revive peace talks but said actual negotiations must be left to Olmert.

''Opening negotiations is the prime minister's prerogative,'' Peres told Israel Radio. ''If you ask me, there should be (peace) talks with Abu Mazen (Abbas).'' Israeli officials said they hoped Olmert's White House talks would enable him to bond with Bush, who hosted his predecessor Ariel Sharon a dozen times before the now-comatose former general was felled by a stroke in January.

''The main aim at the moment is to establish and deepen the personal relationship between the prime minister and the president and certainly the development of a strategic partnership between the two leaders,'' Danny Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to Washington, told Israel Radio.

A speech to both houses of Congress Wednesday will mark Olmert's emergence in the United States from Sharon's shadow and put the spotlight on his policy toward the Palestinians and fears in Israel, the only atomic power in the Middle East, that arch-enemy Iran could join the nuclear club.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hoped Olmert's visit would lead to the ''abandoning of unilateralism.'' Olmert, widely expected to meet Abbas sometime after the US visit, has said that before peacemaking can resume, the Palestinian leader must carry out a road map obligation to dismantle ''terrorist organizations,'' including Hamas.

Hamas is dedicated to Israel's destruction but has largely abided by a truce for more than a year. Commenting on Olmert's West Bank plan, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called it a declaration of war.

Looking ahead to the White House deliberations, a senior Israeli official said: ''Both sides will publicly express their commitment to the road map ... They'll also, when the door is closed, discuss what happens if it doesn't work out.''

Reuters