Citing Israel's Need for Security, Bush Accepts Occupation
President Bush said today that Israel was justified in occupying the West Bank until "security improves," a comment that appeared supportive of Israeli officials, who had said recently that they had no intention of withdrawing their forces from Palestinian-controlled territories soon.

In answer to a question at his news conference at the White House this afternoon, Mr. Bush pointedly passed up an opportunity to offer a warning similar to the one he gave in April, when he angrily said that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should "heed my call" and withdraw Israeli troops. Instead, with the Israeli Army fully in command of most of the Palestinian areas of the West Bank, he said, "I would hope that everybody got the message that we all have responsibilities to fight off terrorist attacks."

Israeli military and government officials have talked of keeping their troops in the Palestinian areas for months to prevent suicide bombings, which have abated in recent days.

On June 19, Mr. Sharon declared that Israel would seize and hold those territories. A few days later, Mr. Bush called for the removal of Yasir Arafat as the leader of the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Bush's comments today will almost certainly be cited as evidence by the Israelis that they have tacit American approval of their military action.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/09/international/middleeast/09PREX.html