CRAWFORD, April 11: President George Bush on Monday urged the Palestinians to accept “new realities on the ground” which “make it unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return on the armistice lines of 1949”.

Addressing a joint press conference after holding a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his Texas ranch, the US president expressed support for Mr Sharon’s Gaza withdrawal plan and pushed Israel to freeze West Bank settlement activity.

The two leaders called on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to crack down on armed groups that target Israel and recommitted themselves to the “roadmap”.

“I remain strongly committed to the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security,” the president said.

The Palestinian Authority was quick to condemn Mr Bush’s remarks, accusing him of legitimizing Israeli settlement activity.

“What is needed now is to start to apply the roadmap. There is no need to legitimize settlement activity, of whatever kind,” Palestinian Authority’s presidential adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

“Negotiations on the final status” of the Palestinian territories should take place “without preliminary conditions”, he added.

Mr Bush said he and Ariel Sharon agreed that the internationally drafted roadmap was “the only way forward”, and urged Israel to dismantle any illegal outposts and not to expand a large West Bank settlement called Maale Adumim.

At the same time, Mr Bush again signalled his support for Israel to hold on to large blocs of territory in the West Bank, where Israeli plans to expand Maale Adumim have angered Palestinian leaders.

“I told the prime minister of my concern that Israel not undertake any activity that contravenes roadmap obligations or prejudices final status negotiations. Therefore, Israel should remove unauthorized outposts and meet its roadmap obligations regarding settlements in the West Bank,” he said.

“It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will be achieved only on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities. That’s the American view,” said Mr Bush.

In his remarks, Mr Sharon assured Mr Bush that his government would remove unauthorized settlements in the West Bank. But the prime minister said Maale Adumim, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, “would be part of Israel” and that there ought to be “contiguity between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem”.

In the past, Israel has interpreted Mr Bush’s comments on demographic realities as a green light to hold on to the large settlement blocs such as Maaleh Adumim in any final peace agreement.

STATEHOOD: Mr Sharon reaffirmed his support for the creation of a Palestinian state with contiguous territory in the West Bank.