JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON HAS CONVENED HIS CABINET MEETING TO DISCUSS THE LATEST U.S.-BACKED PEACE PLAN

Record ID: 400364

  • Title: JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON HAS CONVENED HIS CABINET MEETING TO DISCUSS THE LATEST U.S.-BACKED PEACE PLAN
  • Date: 4th May 2003
  • Summary: (W3) JERUSALEM (MAY 4, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SV ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER SHAUL MOFAZ WALKING INTO CABINET MEETING 0.07 2. SV ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER SILVAN SHALOM ENTERING MEETING HALL 0.15 3. SLV ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON ENTERING MEETING HALL 0.26 4. SV/MCU SHARON CONVENING CABINET (2 SHOTS) 0.52 5. SLV EXTERIOR OF
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVAE8J87VXJ3AY4ZXBGOC3FF19E5
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has convened his
    cabinet meeting ahead of scheduled meetings with U.S.

    Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William
    Burns later on Sunday.



    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence
    Minister Shaul Mofaz met on Sunday (May 4) ahead of the weekly
    cabinet meeting in Jerusalem to discuss the latest U.S.-backed
    peace plan.

    The meeting came just hours before a scheduled meeting
    between the Israeli Prime Minister and U.S. Assistant
    Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns.

    Burns arrrived in Israel on Saturday to discuss the
    implementation of the U.S.-backed road map and to pave the way
    for U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit later this
    week.

    Experts say the Israeli government's stance, coupled with
    new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's lack of popular
    clout, could mean the "road map" mayl run into problems.

    The flicker of optimism around the peace plan was swiftly
    snuffed out, first by a suicide bomber who killed three
    Israelis at a seaside night spot, then by a retaliatory
    Israeli tank raid that killed 12 Palestinians in Gaza, half of
    them civilians.

    It typified the cycle of tit-for-tat violence, propelled
    above all by frequent civilian casualties, that defeated
    several diplomatic initiatives before the "road map".

    U.S. President George W. Bush has declared Abbas, also
    known as Abu Mazen, "a man dedicated to peace...that I look
    forward to working with", and will send Secretary State Colin
    Powell to the region later in the week to push both sides into
    following the road map.

    Skeptics say Abbas's best chance of getting popular
    support against the militants is for the Israeli government --
    which has so far used massive force against armed opposition
    -- to relax its pressure on his people.

    Another problem facing Abbas is his failure to sideline
    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in a power struggle
    focusing on control of both negotiations and security organs
    implicated in militant violence or unwilling to curb it.

    Israel could curb the appeal of Palestinian militants by
    dismantling Jewish settlement outposts that have proliferated
    on occupied West Bank land and freezing the growth of
    established settlements, diplomats say.

    Both figure as confidence-building steps in the initial
    phase of the road map, along with gradual Israeli withdrawals
    from urban areas where Palestinians won self-rule under
    interim peace deals a decade ago.

    Palestinians would at the same time halt militant attacks
    and reform murky security services and financial institutions
    to qualify for a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by
    2005.

    But the Israeli government has objected to this formula,
    ruling out any security-related gestures until Palestinian
    violence has ceased for an extended period and militants have
    been disarmed and prosecuted.

    A security source close to Sharon said the government
    wanted Abbas to succeed but doubted whether he could, seeing
    him as a reticent man without Arafat's charisma or street
    clout.

    Many analysts say suicide bombers have thrived on the
    bitterness of a people under Israel's punitive military thumb.

    The government is also demanding that at the start of the
    process, Palestinians declare an end to the conflict and
    renounce the "right of return" of refugees displaced in wars
    since 1948.

    Sharon has hinted Palestinians can count on statehood only
    in parts of the West Bank, that large settlement areas will
    remain elsewhere and Israel will still control external
    borders.

    The security source said all those conditions are
    non-starters for even reformist Palestinians, who want the
    road map implemented as written -- and the right-wing and
    nationalist parties dominating Sharon's coalition know this
    and will not budge.



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