Israel Told to Keep Eyes on ‘Road Map’

President Bush and other U.S. officials warned Israel on Friday to stick to the U.S.-backed “road map” for Middle East peace and said Israel should take no unilateral steps that might complicate the creation of a Palestinian state.

After meeting at the State Department, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said they agreed that the road map, which lays out a step-by-step approach to creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel, was the way forward.

But behind the scenes, there are increasing signs of tension between the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has enjoyed a close relationship with President Bush.

Washington is pressuring Sharon to make good on the commitment he made to Bush in Aqaba, Jordan, in the spring to begin dismantling Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, knowledgeable sources said.

Shalom told Powell that Sharon would be unveiling a new peace plan next week. Shalom later told reporters that Sharon’s plan -- described in the Israeli media as consisting of “unilateral” steps Israel would take to withdraw from some areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and dismantle some settlements -- might include movement on the Jewish settlements. But Shalom offered no details, and administration officials said they did not know Sharon’s intentions.

Shalom’s meeting with Powell came amid growing signs of administration displeasure with Israel.

“Israel must be mindful ... that they don’t make decisions that make it hard to create a Palestinian state,” Bush told reporters Friday during a brief question-and-answer session. “It’s in Israel’s interest there be a Palestinian state. It’s in the poor, suffering Palestinian people’s interest there be a Palestinian state.”

A day earlier, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield criticized both the Palestinians and Israel sharply in a speech in Rome. Satterfield said that Palestinian reform -- another key element of the road map -- “is at a near-standstill,” but that Israel is also to blame for the deadlock.

“The Israeli government has done too little for far too long to translate its repeatedly stated commitment to facilitate Palestinian reform into reality,” Satterfield said. “Responsibility for moving further down this path rests first with the Palestinian Authority and second with Israel.”

Stung by the uncharacteristic criticism of Israel from an administration that is often criticized by European and Arab allies for being too close to Sharon’s conservative government, some of Israel’s American backers protested.

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations put out a statement rebuking Satterfield. Its policy director blamed the State Department for being out of touch with the White House’s Israel policy.

“We believe his statements ... were at odds with President Bush’s approach, and we appealed to President Bush to make sure the people in the State Department were on the same page,” said Nathan Diament.

However, officials at State said the United States was merely reiterating its long-standing position that the road map, a plan signed by both the Israeli and Palestinian Authority governments, holds the only realistic prospect for peace.

“In addition to the only document that’s really endorsed by the parties, it’s an objective statement of what it’s going to take to get a Palestinian state [that] can live peacefully, side by side, with Israel,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Boucher added that the United States believes that neither party “can find peace unilaterally, it has to be negotiated.” But he later made clear that the U.S. would not necessarily oppose positive unilateral steps, indicating that the administration would welcome moves by Israel to begin dismantling Jewish settlements even before Palestinian concessions are made.

“We have always been in favor of the two sides taking steps, indeed, encourage the sides to take steps to move the process forward along the direction of the road map, along the direction of the negotiated settlement,” Boucher said. “We’ve always been against unilateral steps that define the settlement or prejudice the outcome or try to impose a settlement.”

Another State Department official said the U.S. wasn’t trying to “fire a shot across the bow” in the lead-up to Sharon’s speech next week, but rather to stress concerns that Sharon not abandon the road map in favor of uncharted territory.

“What would be of concern ... is activity that expands settlements and that creates facts on the ground that both parties have agreed should be subjects of negotiation,” the official said.

Powell and Shalom agreed that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians should begin immediately, without preconditions. Shalom also indicated that Israel was trying to arrange a meeting between Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei.

Meanwhile, in another Bush administration bid to reach beyond the stalled peace process, Powell met on Thursday with two independent Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers. Powell met Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian leader and president of Al Quds University, and Ami Avalon, former director of the Israeli security agency Shin Bet. The two are promoting an alternative peace plan and say they have collected 65,000 signatures of support from Palestinians and 130,000 from Israelis.

A week ago, over the strong objections of the Israeli government, Powell met with another pair of peacemakers, former Israeli negotiator Yossi Beilin and Palestine Liberation Organization official Yasser Abed-Rabbo. Administration officials said it is important for the United States to listen to a variety of ideas.