The United States wants Israel to further explain an Israeli official's statement that Israel aims to freeze the peace process and effectively deny the Palestinians a state, a U.S. official said on Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's chief of staff Dov Weisglass told Haaretz newspaper that Sharon's plan to withdraw from all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four on the West Bank aimed to rule out a Palestinian state indefinitely. Sharon, wary of alienating Israel's key ally, on Wednesday said he still supported the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan which Weisglass effectively dismissed but his assurances do not appear to have satisfied Washington. "They've got to explain Weisglass," said a senior U.S. State Department official who spoke to reporters on condition that he not be identified. "We think it still bears some explanation ... That's a job that they need to do." The official's comments reflected rare criticism of Israel by the Bush administration, which generally supports the Sharon government and its military operations against Palestinians, which Israel says aim to stop Palestinian suicide attacks. --More 2331 Local Time 2031 GMT
