Arab outrage at Mr Bush’s unprecedented concessions to Israeli demands was so fierce that both moderate and militants across the region urged a violent response, while the world’s Islamic nations announced an emergency meeting to discuss the move.

President Chirac of France called Israel’s plan “dangerous” and said its public backing by Mr Bush set a “troubling precedent”.

The European Commission said the plan ran counter to the principles of the Middle East peace settlement, otherwise known as the “road map”, which was brokered by the US, the EU, Russia and the UN last year. Germany insisted that only a solution negotiated under the road map would bring peace.

After a White House meeting on Wednesday with Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Bush backed a plan for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

But the US President also announced his approval for Israel to keep large sections of the West Bank, seized by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War, in any peace deal with the Palestinians. He also rejected the “right of return” to Israel of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who claim their families were displaced during the first Arab-Israeli war.

The move represented a significant shift in US policy toward the Middle East peace process. Until yesterday, Washington had officially viewed Jewish settlements as obstacles to peace. Mr Bush’s comments also appeared to undercut the US-backed road map to a Palestinian state, which insisted on negotiations solely between Israel and the Palestinians with a series of reciprocal steps.

“This position will have dangerous repercussions on all levels,” President Lahoud of Lebanon said. “It undermines hopes for a just and comprehensive peace, inflames feelings of enmity toward America and opens the door towards retaking these rights by force.”

The 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the largest group of Muslim states, announced an emergency meeting in Malaysia, at the request of Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian leader.

Mr Arafat called the peace process “dead” and predicted a new cycle of violence.

Arab and European leaders, including Tony Blair, have warned Mr Bush since he took office that a failure to offer a balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root cause of anti-American hostility in the region. Addressing it, they claim, is a precondition to winning the war on terrorism.

President Mubarak of Egypt, one of the US’s key allies in the region, met Mr Bush at his Texas ranch on Sunday. According to an Arab official at the meeting, Mr Mubarak implored Mr Bush not to yield totally to Mr Sharon’s demands.

According to the official, Mr Mubarak “advised Bush not to support Sharon unconditionally as it would cause real problems in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Unfortunately, Bush ignored the advice and greeted Sharon as if he was a member of his own administration”.

Mr Mubarak said yesterday that solutions must not be forced on the Palestinians. “To impose anything, they are going to reject it. The issue should be discussed and accepted by both sides.”

Ahmed Qureia, the Palestinian Prime Minister, accused Mr Bush of an “unacceptable” violation of the road map. “It cannot be decided by the President what is realistic and what is not realistic.”

The EU also signalled its opposition to the Israeli plan. “The European Union will not recognise any change to the pre-1967 borders other than those arrived at by agreement between the parties,” said Brian Cowan, the Irish Foreign Minister, on behalf of the EU presidency.

Palestinian militants predicted a bloody reprisal for Mr Bush’s stance. Khaled Mashaal, the political leader of Hamas, said Mr Bush’s comments were “a deadly bullet against the road map with all its negative aspects”.

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