VARIOUS: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON WINS CABINET APPROVAL FOR A U.S.-BACKED ROAD MAP FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Record ID: 400532

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON WINS CABINET APPROVAL FOR A U.S.-BACKED ROAD MAP FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
  • Date: 26th May 2003
  • Summary: (W3) JERUSALEM (MAY 25, 2003) (REUTERS) FOR DETAILED SHOTLIST SHOTS 1 - 9 SEE PROD 7912/03: 1. MV ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON ENTERING CABINET MEETING 2. VARIOUS OF MINISTERS ENTERING CABINET MEETING 3. SHARON AND MINISTERS MEETING 4. VARIOUS OF SETTLER PROTEST OUTSIDE SHARON'S OFFICES 5. BANNERS AGAINS
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM / RAMALLAH AND KOHAV YACOV SETTLEMENT; WEST BANK /GAZA AND BEACH REFUGEE CAMP, GAZA
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVABB7JMS3QK108U7F8QFL6S7JTR
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has won cabinet
    approval for a U.S.-backed "road map" that includes a historic
    call for a Palestinian state on land which he said must be
    divided in the name of peace.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon overcame opposition
    on Sunday (May 25, 2003) to the plan by far-right cabinet ministers
    and members of his own rightist Likud party by a vote of 12-7 with
    four abstentions after a stormy six-hour debate.

    Jewish settlement leaders demonstrated outside against the
    peace plan.

    The cabinet approval set the stage for a possible
    Israeli-Palestinian summit attended by U.S. President George
    W. Bush, who had pushed Sharon hard to accept the most
    ambitious Middle East peace plan in years.

    "We want to start negotiating seriously and bona fide with
    the Palestinians, and it is indeed the time to reach a
    settlement. There are three phases, as everybody is aware of.

    I think it is a very, very good decision and I'm very happy
    that it passed," said Yosef Paritsky, Israeli Infrastructure
    Minister
    Israeli opponents of the proposal noted its acceptance
    formally committed Israel for the first time to the
    establishment of a Palestinian state, envisaged in the plan by
    2005.

    "Yes, the 'Road Trap' -- it is a real trap and I am sure
    we will overcome the obstacles, the hindrances and the traps.

    But it will be again bloodshed" said Israeli Tourism Minister
    Benjamin Elon.

    But, in a separate vote of 16-1, the cabinet rejected any
    Palestinian right of refugee return to what is now the Jewish
    state, a proviso likely to be a bump on any road to peace.

    "If we have a genuine Israeli acceptance of the 'road map'
    I believe the emphasis is on President Bush and the members
    'Quartet' (they) must immediately move to call for a high
    level Palestinian - Israeli meeting with the 'Quartet' in
    order to put the necessary implementations, time-lines and the
    monitors to begin the immediate and parallel implementation
    on both sides" said Palestinian official Saeb Erekat after the
    Israeli vote.

    "The Israeli side must immediately issue a statement
    recognising a Palestinian state and the Palestinian leadership
    must issue a statement reiterating its recognition of the
    state of Israel and I believe it is really high time to
    transfer words into deeds."
    The Palestinians, who began an uprising for statehood 32
    months ago, have embraced the road map.

    The plan's initial steps include a cessation of violence,
    an easing of Israel's military grip in the West Bank and Gaza,
    and dismantling Jewish settlement outposts erected since March
    2001.

    Hamas dismissed the approval of the plan as "a political
    trick" by Israel.

    "We are warning the Palestinian government that they are
    going to imitate the same process in Oslo. They are pushing
    the Palestinian side to an internal Palestinian confrontation
    and, lastly, will reach to the final occupation of our land,
    undermining our infrastructural basis," said Mahmoud Al Zahar,
    a senior Hamas leader in Gaza.

    Some political commentators said Sharon was making a
    tactical move, banking on Abu Mazen, a reformist with a weak
    power base, ultimately failing to carry out a mandated
    crackdown on militants behind suicide bombings in Israel.

    Interim peace accords with the Palestinians have spoken
    only of a permanent settlement based on U.N. resolutions that
    call for Israeli withdrawal from occupied land in return for
    secure and recognised boundaries.

    The road map also calls for a freeze on Jewish settlement
    expansion on Israeli-occupied land, a clause that goes against
    Sharon's long-held advocacy of settlement-building.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register