The U.S. is being widely criticized around the world for backing an Israeli plan that will allow Israel to keep large areas of the West Bank while denying the Palestinians a right of return to their homeland. President Bush endorsed the plan on Wednesday during a meeting in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Never before has an American president openly backed Israel’s building of settlements in the occupied territories. Another part of the plan calls for Israel to pull completely out of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said,”This is a catastrophe that has to be dealt with. What is fixed is that we have rights and we will defend them.” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticized Bush for ignoring the wishes of Palestinians, while the European Union said it would only accept such a plan if both the Israelis and Palestinians agreed to it. The head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said Bush’s move “cancels all frameworks and it represents dangerous developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict.” Lebanese President Emile Lahoud added “It undermines hope for a just and comprehensive peace, inflames feelings of enmity toward America and opens the door toward retaking these rights by force, through all legitimate means of resistance.” The Guardian of London reports British Prime Minister Tony Blair will ask Bush today to take a more even handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Blair is in Washington for a special summit with Bush.