Olmert-Bush meeting on Tuesday; Tell Bush - "Convergence" is no substitute for negotiations

PAST ACTION ALERT - FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY - PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be traveling to Washington this week for the first time since he became Prime Minister, and Washington is rolling out the red carpet: Olmert is expected to meet with President George W. Bush on Tuesday and speak before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister comes at a challenging time for all of us who care about Israel and the peace process. The Palestinians are in the midst of a profound internal conflict and face a looming humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile the newly-elected Hamas-led Cabinet has failed to condemn - and has not taken steps to prevent - acts of terrorism.

One focus of Olmert's visit will likely be an effort to receive a general statement of American backing for his "convergence" plan, a still-vague program to evacuate some West Bank settlements and expand others while unilaterally establishing Israel's borders. Olmert has indicated that he would pursue such a unilateral move once he has exhausted the possibility of negotiations. Yet, questions remain about whether Olmert will seriously pursue negotiations before he starts taking unilateral acts.

This has been the debate in Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz calling for Israel to "make a sincere, serious, and real effort to reach a settlement with the Palestinians before any decision to start the 'convergence' plan unilaterally."

At Tuesday's meeting Bush should:

Encourage Olmert to genuinely pursue negotiations before taking further unilateral steps;
Push Olmert to freeze settlement activity, particularly the "thickening" of settlements west of the security barrier;
State that - if efforts at negotiations fail - Israeli efforts to take down settlements would be supported, since settlements undermine the viability of a two-state solution and constitute an economic, security, and demographic burden for Israel; and
Clarify that Israel's final borders can only be determined through negotiations.

Please contact President Bush. Ask him to communicate these points to Prime Minister Olmert.

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