MIDDLE EAST: Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon will have come away from his meeting on Monday with President George Bush in Texas with mixed feelings.
Mr Bush again strongly reiterated his backing for Mr Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza, but the Israeli leader will have also understood that, once the pull-out has taken place, his differences with the president will become sharper.
The prime minister heard the president praise him for displaying "strong visionary leadership" in his decision to exit Gaza. He also heard Mr Bush reiterate his position that any final status agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians will have to take into account major settlement blocks built in the West Bank.
But Mr Bush also made it clear more than once during the press conference that followed the meeting at the president's Texas ranch that he expected Israel to desist from all settlement building in the West Bank and to remove the dozens of unauthorised outposts that have been built there. Failure to do so, he emphasised, would constitute a violation of the road map.
He also told Mr Sharon during their meeting, which was meant to bolster the Israeli leader ahead of the Gaza pull-out, that he expected the prime minister to take steps that would strengthen Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, not weaken him.
The prime minister had hoped to paint his Palestinian counterpart as weak and ineffective. At the press conference, he called on Mr Abbas to move against terror groups. Mr Bush, however, said he appreciated "the fact that they [ the Palestinians] have taken some action on security."
For now, the differences that were on display at the press conference do not constitute a major crisis. Both leaders have a strong mutual interest - that Mr Sharon's disengagement plan, which includes the evacuation of 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank, proceed smoothly.
Not clear is the extent to which the two men see eye-to-eye on what should happen once the withdrawal, scheduled to begin in late July, has been completed.
Mr Sharon did say that the Gaza pull-out could lead to a return to the road map peace plan. But the prime minister has never been an enthusiast of the internationally backed blueprint, and his plans regarding the West Bank, after Israel leaves Gaza, remain a mystery.
Mr Sharon does not believe that a final status agreement that resolves the issues at the heart of the conflict - borders, refugees, the status of Jerusalem - is attainable. At most, he believes, the sides can aim for a long-term interim agreement.
He has intimated more than once that there will be no progress on the road map - even after a Gaza withdrawal - if the Palestinians do not dismantle armed groups like Hamas.
But the road map calls for negotiations on all final status issues. And the Americans are clearly hoping that after the Gaza withdrawal the Palestinians will prove that they can govern themselves.
If they can, Mr Sharon will face mounting pressure to return to the negotiating table.