Policy Research Note Release
Rejecting a Partnership for Pandemonium
April 11, 2005 witnesses another meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President George W. Bush. Like their previous meeting in April of 2004, topics on the agenda will include inevitable requests for financial assistance along with a large debit on America’s global reputation. The Israeli Prime Minister will seek US assurances for Israeli construction of 3,500 housing units on a strip connecting Jerusalem to Ma’ale Adumim, the most populous Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The construction is highly controversial because the “road map” calls for a freeze in all colonization activity. The project is not only the largest in a decade, but cuts into land that Palestinians see as territory needed for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state and access to an East Jerusalem capital. The Israeli Prime Minister is seeking US support for annexations that would inflame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and create regional pandemonium (see Exhibit 1).