The Hindu : Sharon move to quicken peace effort

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 14, 2003

International

International

Sharon move to quicken peace effort

JERUSALEM APRIL 13. The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, said in an interview published on Sunday that the Iraq war had created an opening for reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal more quickly than anticipated, and Israel was willing to give up some Jewish settlements as part of such an agreement,

Mr. Sharon, considered the leading architect of Jewish settlement expansion over the past three decades, for the first time named communities that would have to be dismantled. In the past, he only said he was ready to make "painful concessions," but was evasive when asked about uprooting settlements.

Despite the apparent softening of some positions, Mr. Sharon reiterated in an interview with the Haaretz daily that Israel has major reservations about a U.S.-backed `road map' to Palestinian statehood by 2005.

Among other things, Sharon wanted a clause added that Palestinians drop their insistence on the `right of return' of Palestinian refugees ahead of final peace talks.

The Palestinians have said Mr. Sharon is trying to scuttle the plan by raising new demands, and Israeli critics have long accused the career hawk of misleading the world and the Israeli public by hinting at moderate intentions while cracking down on the Palestinians and expanding Jewish settlements on the ground.

Mr. Sharon's top aide, Dov Weisglass, is presenting Israel's concerns to U.S. officials in Washington this week.

The three-phase plan was formulated by the Quartet of West Asia mediators — the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — and is to be formally unveiled after the Palestinian Prime Minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, is sworn in, possibly later this week.

Mr. Abbas has the backing of international mediators who hope he will gradually take the reins from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and implement sweeping reforms and rein in Palestinian militants.

Mr. Sharon said on Sunday that the war in Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime had "sent shock waves through the Middle East and open the door to great change."

"The Arab world in general, and the Palestinians in particular, have been shaken. There is therefore a chance to reach an agreement faster than people think," he said.

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