TEL AVIV, June 2: President George Bush will not endorse any alternative version of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's troubled Gaza pullout plan, the American embassy said on Wednesday.
As Mr Sharon battles to garner a majority for the project at Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting, the US is warning opponents of the project that it will not accept a scaled-down or compromise agreement.
The original version of the so-called "disengagement plan" involved a withdrawal from all 21 of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and an evacuation of four isolated settlements in the northern West Bank.
"It's that plan that President Bush endorsed in a statement as a bold initiative," US embassy spokesman Paul Patin said. "It's that plan that he supports and no other."
Mr Sharon suffered a major embarrassment a month ago when members of his right-wing Likud party rejected the plan in a referendum. But he has since vowed to forge ahead, although he is now offering an initial limited evacuation while further phases would be subject to later votes in cabinet.
The warning from Washington that it will not accept a reworked version is expected to strengthen Mr Sharon's hand against right-wing opponents who want it further watered down or thrown out.
Mr Bush enraged Arab opinion in April as he endorsed the Gaza plan, by declaring that Palestinians refugees could not expect to return to homes they lost when Israel was created in 1948 and effectively approving Israeli control over large West Bank settlement blocs.
Mr Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice held talks with Ariel Sharon's bureau chief Dov Weisglass in Washington on Tuesday during which she was understood to have underlined that a reworked plan would be unacceptable.
SHARON CONFIDENT: Armed with fresh White House endorsement for his plan, Ariel Sharon vowed on Wednesday to push it past rebellious ministers and evacuate all settlements in the territory by 2005.
Mr Sharon is facing off against rebels led by influential rival and Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who oppose reject the plan as a victory for "Palestinian terror".
"The plan will pass on Sunday," Mr Sharon told reporters after a parliamentary security committee session. He told the meeting the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank would be evacuated by the end of next year.
One lawmaker quoted Mr Sharon as saying "not a single Jewish settler will be left in Gaza". The former general failed to muster enough votes last Sunday and the vote was postponed. -Reuters
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