JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has signaled that he is serious about the latest peace plan, declaring that Israel's occupation in the West Bank must end. His words adopted the language of his dovish opponents and shocked his hard-line allies.
Sharon's remarks Monday fed into efforts to jump-start stalled Mideast peace negotiations.
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Washington Post: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
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Bush prepares for Mideast travel following Israeli adoption of road map
Palestinian officials and Israeli sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas would meet Wednesday in Jerusalem, their second summit in two weeks. But Israeli media later reported the meeting was postponed until Thursday due to Abbas' heavy schedule.
A three-way summit with President Bush could take place as early as next week, possibly in Jordan.
Amid withering criticism from his own Likud Party over his Cabinet's acceptance of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, Sharon indicated a 180-degree turnaround after decades of warning that an Israeli withdrawal from even small parts of the West Bank could endanger Israel's existence.
Skeptics, however, said it was yet another master performance from a wily politician.
"To keep 3.5 million people under occupation is bad for us and them," Sharon said in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio.
The term "occupation" is anathema to the Israeli right, which believes Israel has a legitimate claim to the West Bank and Gaza Strip for religious and security reasons.
Palestinians and their dovish Israeli allies routinely use the word "occupation" when demanding that Israel leave the West Bank and Gaza and dismantle Jewish settlements.
Palestinians claim all of the West Bank and Gaza for a state.
On Sunday, Sharon's Cabinet conditionally approved the "road map," a three-phase plan that begins with a halt to violence and envisages a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2005.
Despite the Israeli conditions, including a cessation of violence and renunciation of Palestinian demands for the "right of return" of all refugees and their families to Israel, some Arab leaders were hopeful.
"We are on the verge of peace," Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said.
Sharon told party critics that he was committed to finding a political solution to the conflict, including an Israeli withdrawal from West Bank population centers.
"This can't continue endlessly. Do you want to remain forever in Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus?" he asked.
Amid the peace-plan developments, Israeli troops shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy and critically wounded two children, ages 7 and 9, during confrontations Tuesday in the West Bank.
The Israeli army said the shootings came in response to attacks by Palestinians throwing stones and molotov cocktails.
Israel's qualified acceptance of a U.S.-backed plan to establish a Palestinian state offers the most significant boost to peace prospects in 32 months of conflict.
Despite cynicism on both sides and Israeli attempts to add conditions, the road map could be a turning point. It faces challenges that will probably take more time to overcome than its ambitious three-year schedule allows. While the conflict's seemingly intractable nature has deflated other peace attempts, the plan has in its favor a U.S. leader with unprecedented power in the region, influence that could help it succeed.
"We're at a point when the U.S. has unusual clout in the Middle East in general and in Israel in particular," says Yossi Alpher, former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv. "Now, for the first time in two years of this administration, we have a president who seems ready to commit his energies and prestige to stabilize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That is a major event."
The 12-to-7 Cabinet vote approving the road map is being described as historic, as it is the first time an Israeli government has officially accepted that Palestinians should have a state. It is all the more significant for being passed by Sharon's right-wing government. Sharon acknowledged after the vote Sunday that "this was not a happy decision."
Ordinary Israelis weren't quite so pessimistic. The Israeli stock market leapt 7 percent, the third-highest jump in 10 years. A newspaper poll showed that 56 percent of Israelis thought approving the road map was the right thing to do, even though 62 percent believed Sharon had done so only because of American pressure.
The prime minister admitted as much, Israeli newspapers reported, telling his Cabinet, "If we reject the road map, it could lead to a confrontation with the Americans."
And the Americans, under Bush, are in a unique position to shape this region. The victory in Iraq gives the United States immense regional influence, while its ability to get Israeli agreement on the road map enhances its standing in the Arab world.
Israel also needs the United States as never before. Its economy is in tatters, making Israel even more reliant on U.S. aid. Last year, Sharon requested an extra $10 billion in aid beyond the $2.7 billion the United States provides Israel annually.
Sponsored by the "quartet" The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia), the road map is meant to achieve a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 2005.
Phase 1: End of violence
Palestinian leaders implement an unconditional official cease-fire and acknowledge Israel's right to exist in peace. The Palestinian Authority security force is reorganized and confronts those engaged in violent attacks on Israelis. Palestinian forces re-establish cooperation with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Steps are taken to establish a strong parliamentary democracy with separation of powers.
Israel affirms commitment to a viable sovereign Palestinian state and calls for the end of violence against Palestinians. Israel takes no actions undermining trust, including deportations, attacks on civilians or house demolitions. Settlement outposts erected since March 2001 are dismantled and settlement activity is frozen. IDF withdraws from areas occupied since Sept. 28, 2000. Restrictions on Palestinian movement are eased.
Phase 2: Transition to separate states
Starts after "free, open and fair" Palestinian elections and ends with possible creation of an independent Palestinian state with "provisional" borders.
Phase 3: Permanent status agreement
Talks convened by the quartet lead to a permanent-status resolution in 2005. It would include final decisions on borders, Jerusalem, refugees and settlements.