Troubling move by Bush

This will definitely not bring peace to the middle east: "Sharon buoyed by U.S. support." The US has approved Israeli plans to withdraw altogether from Gaza and from four West Bank settlements. But Israel gets to keep much of the West Bank on which some 150,000 Jewish settlers now live.

There are just two problems with this. First, settling occupied territory by citizens of the occupying state is illegal under art. 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The US cannot simply waive its provisions unilaterally for its own policy purposes. Of course, one can envision a scenario in which at least some existing settlements might have to be tolerated under a general peace accord agreed to by all sides. One could argue that this is what Kofi Annan's plan for Cyprus involves. But that plan is being put to a referendum in both sides of the island, where its future is in doubt.

This brings us to the second, and more serious, problem: the Palestinians have not agreed to this and have not even been brought into the process. This has only stiffened the resolve of such groups as Hamas to mount armed resistance. What could Bush and company have been thinking?