The uprooting of northern Samaria was conceived in Washington by Condoleezza Rice and members of the US State Department, writes Yossi Zeliger. Zeliger: The Americans were on the verge of issuing a letter with de facto recognition of the settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria and a declaration that refugees would not return to Israel.
The exit from Gaza and the evacuation of Gush Katif and northern Gaza were not perceived by the Bush administration as a big enough victim, he says.