1. BUSH CALLS FOR PALESTINIAN TERRITORIAL CONTIGUITY… U.S. President George W. Bush made the Israel-Palestinian conflict a focal point of his speech in Brussels on Monday, and set its resolution as a top priority. Bush reiterated his call for a democratic Palestinian state alongside Israel, and calling for territorial contiguity, he said that, “A state on scattered territories will not work.” The president was adamant about the need for Israel to end all settlement activity in post-1967 territories. Bush called for Mahmoud ‘Abbas, the new Palestinian Authority chairman, to put together a “strategy for reform,” and admonished that, “Palestinian democracy must be Israel’s supreme objective.”
2. ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY REPORT: EXPECT TOUGH TIMES WITH PALESTINIANS FOLLOWING GAZA PULLOUT… A report drafted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s policy division warns that relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will “explode” in the period following Israel’s unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip. At that time, the P.A. will demand immediate final status talks, triggering the confrontation. The report expresses the belief that the United States will join Europe in backing the Palestinian demand. The revelations were made by Israel Army Radio on Tuesday morning. The upside, according to the report, is that the pullout will open the door to diplomatic relations with a number of Arab nations.
3. SYRIA WILL REDEPLOY – NOT REMOVE – TROOPS IN LEBANON… Syria says it will redeploy its troops in Lebanon, and not withdraw them as had been reported earlier. The announcement comes after U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated his demand that Syria leave Lebanon in a speech delivered in Brussels. He called for an end to the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. In Beirut, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in protest of the Syrian presence, demanding that its forces be removed. The rally was organized by opposition leaders who blame Syria for the murder last week of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri. Al-Hariri had served as prime minister with Syrian backing for a decade, but quit last fall in disagreement over Syrian control. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced on Monday that he will send a team to Lebanon to investigate Al-Hariri’s killing.
4. ISRAELI GOVERNMENT BACKING DOWN FROM INTENT TO DESTROY EVACUATED HOMES… That Ariel Sharon’s government is backing down from its intent to destroy the homes evacuated by Israelis subject to the planned pullout from the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly apparent. Last June, the government announced that while community infrastructure would be preserved, individual houses would be razed. The policy had political value because it was also more palatable to those families losing their homes than the thought of Palestinians living in their former homes. The Media Line reported on Sunday that Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres had opened the door to reversing the policy by virtue of talks with a real estate mogul from the United Arab Emirates who is seeking to buy the affected homes en masse. At that time, the Prime Minister’s Office was quoted as saying that its June statement was still operative. On Tuesday, Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon told Israel Army Radio that the government is, indeed, reconsidering whether the homes will be demolished in light of “new thoughts and considerations” that have emerged “since dialogue began with the new Palestinian leadership.”