In April 2004, US president George W. Bush publicly endorsed Israel’s “disengagement” plan to pull settlers out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
The endorsement was seen as a major success for the Israeli government led by Ariel Sharon, with Bush accepting concessions on how much land Israel should return to the Palestinians in exchange for peace.
Behind the scenes, Bush’s deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, told the British ambassador in Washington that Sharon “took the pants off us”, newly declassified UK files show.
In a sensitive exchange, Armitage informed diplomat David Manning that “there had been no need for Bush to make any concessions on the border or the right of return… Why say it now? Why give these cards up now?”
The UK government had been opposed to making any such concessions to Israel on these issues, and made this clear in meetings with US officials.
“The Arabs and Palestinians would be unhappy with the language used by Bush, particularly on right of return”, one British official told the US National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
Rice acknowledged this, but retorted that the Palestinians would “howl and flail” for a while before having to begrudgingly accept whatever deal was given to them.
Privately, British officials wondered whether Bush’s position had been shifted due to the influence of Washington’s powerful pro-Israel lobby.
“It is difficult to see what Bush gains in terms of either domestic approval or advancement of the MEPP [Middle East Peace Process] in this shift of nuances”, one British official wrote.
“Rather it reflects the assiduousness of Israel, and its Washington friends within and outside the Administration, in pushing Israeli interests”, the official continued.
Britain built up Palestinian Authority to “avoid a Hamas victory”
Parallel to the Middle East Peace Process, the UK government was providing security assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) with the goal of preventing Hamas from coming to power in Gaza.
In a briefing paper for Blair, it was noted how the UK government would support Israel’s “withdrawal plan” by supporting PA “efforts on hard security” alongside the US and Egypt.
The stated objective was to build “a strong foundation for an effective PA take-over of Gaza” and “avoid a Hamas victory”.
To this end, Britain helped the PA set up “an operations room” in Ramallah, “aimed at pooling and using threat intelligence”.
In addition, the Department for International Development (DFID) “funded police advisory work”, with 54 DFID police cars being provided to the PA.
Al Jazeera previously revealed that British intelligence officials also sought in 2004 to degrade “the capabilities of rejectionists” of the peace deal, namely Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the al-Aqsa Brigades.
This would involve “the disruption of their leaderships’ communications and command and control capabilities; the detention of key middle-ranking officers; and the confiscation of their arsenals and financial resources held within the Occupied Territories”.
The intelligence officers further suggested exploring “the temporary internment of leading Hamas and PIJ figures, making sure they are well-treated, with EU funding”.
Hamas ultimately won seven out of 10 councils in the Gaza strip in the 2005 election, in a crushing blow to the UK-backed Fatah party of Mahmoud Abbas.
