Three top U.S. representatives from the State Department and National Security Council are expected to return to Israel this week for a third time.
William Burns, Steve Hadley and Elliott Abrams will meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to try to finalize details of Sharon’s Gaza-withdrawal plan.
Israel has made several demands of the U.S. as a way of ‘payment’ for any Israeli withdrawal:
• recognition of Israeli sovereignty over several Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)
• a guarantee that talks with the Palestinians will only come after control of the Palestinian Authority has been prized away from Yassir Arafat
• agreement that once a Palestinian state is created, there will be no right of return to Israel for Palestinian refugees.