Bush asks Sharon to follow peace roadmap

Bush told Sharon at his Texas ranch on Monday he must meet obligations set out in the roadmap to stop expanding settlements. Sharon made no firm commitments. The roadmap charts mutual steps leading to a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

‘‘The US has never agreed to the Israeli settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza Strip. It does not agree to it now. There is no dispute,’’ Sharon aide Dov Weisglass told Israel’s Army Radio.

In Washington, Sharon planned to meet US Vice-President Dick Cheney. A senior Israeli official said Iran’s nuclear programme would be high on their agenda. Earlier in the day, Sharon met editors and repeated his call for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to do more to rein in militants.

‘‘I’ve known him for many years and there is no doubt he represents a departure from Yasser Arafat’s strategy of terror,’’ the official quoted Sharon as saying. ‘‘But he must take additional steps to dismantle terrorist organisations and stop incitement or we can’t move forward from the pre-roadmap stage,’’ he added. ‘‘This position has been endorsed by the United States’’.

Sharon did not back down in the face of US concerns over a plan for 3,500 homes in a corridor between the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, though he sought to reassure Bush no new building was imminent. Both sides denied there was any crisis over settlements.

Palestinian leaders welcomed Bush’s call for a halt to construction. ‘‘There is a positive side to Bush’s statements… and we hope this will be implemented,’’ PM Ahmed Qurie said. —Reuters