jerusalem | George W. Bush called Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a “courageous leader” during a meeting the two had at the United Nations this week, and told the prime minister that just as he [Bush] had won his elections, so would Sharon.
According to Israeli television, the two leaders spoke mainly of developments on the Philadelphia route, while Sharon expressed concern over the recent anarchy in along the border, and asked the president to express his own concern over the situation.
Bush supported Sharon’s stance that as long as Hamas and other groups continue to threaten Israel’s security, there can be no progress on the diplomatic front.
He also called on the Palestinians to use the Israeli pullout to further peace efforts with Israel.
“The world must hear that now is the time for Palestinians to come together to establish a government that will be peaceful to Israel,” Bush said. “The Gaza [Strip] is a good chance to start.”
With the Gaza Strip now under Palestinian control, the international community and the Arab world must help the Palestinians develop a viable economy, the U.S. leader said.
Bush made no comment on Sharon’s vow to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The United States opposes such construction, which runs counter to the road map peace plan.
Sharon said on his flight to New York that Israel would build “as much as necessary” in major settlement blocs in the West Bank, where 245,000 settlers live isolated from 2.4 million Palestinians.
Sharon broached the issue of freeing Jonathan Pollard, but was rebuffed by the president, Israel Radio reported.
Sharon also indicated that, in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina damage, he would not raise Israel’s request for more than $2 billion in aid to defray the cost of disengagement. “I don’t think this is the right time,” he said.
Sharon was expected, at press time, to address the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, Sept. 15.
Senior Israeli government officials said Sharon would stress that it was now up to the Palestinians to take steps toward peace, mainly through cracking down on militant groups — another requirement of the road map.
The Israeli officials said Sharon also would reaffirm Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem as its “united and eternal capital.” Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem, captured along with Gaza and the rest of the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, as the capital of a future state.
In addition, according to the Associated Press, a source in the Israeli delegation divulged that Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom held a historic meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda this week.
Shalom, in interviews with Israeli radio stations from New York, refused to confirm or deny the reports, saying only that Israel’s relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds have greatly improved recently.
Officials in Israel had not yet confirmed reports of the meeting between the two foreign ministers.
While in New York, Shalom is also scheduled to meet with his opposite numbers from Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and Morocco.
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world.
In addition to meeting Bush, Sharon met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sharon had a historic informal meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Earlier this month, Shalom held landmark talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Kasuri, and was reportedly to hold a second meeting with him during the summit.
Tovah Lazaroff of the Jerusalem Post Service contributed to this report.