Halifax -- Re West Bank Settlements Can Stay, Bush Says (April 15): In granting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israeli settlers the right to annex Palestinian territory, U.S. President George W. Bush is acting in the same manner as Arthur Balfour did in 1917 -- giving something he does not own to those who are not entitled to it.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza are under oppressive illegal occupation that has been allowed to stand for 37 years in defiance of international law and repeated United Nations Security Council resolutions. Full Israeli withdrawal should be imperative and requires no negotiation.

Mr. Bush's statement that, "in light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centres, it is unrealistic to expect . . . a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949" (Riding With Sharon -- editorial, April 15), is a licence for renewed Israeli expansionism in neighbouring Arab territories.