JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON SAYS A POLITICAL PROCESS TOWARDS PEACE WITH THE PALESTINIANS IS IN VIEW BUT COULD BE LOST IF HE LOSES UPCOMING ELECTIONS

Record ID: 400862

  • Title: JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON SAYS A POLITICAL PROCESS TOWARDS PEACE WITH THE PALESTINIANS IS IN VIEW BUT COULD BE LOST IF HE LOSES UPCOMING ELECTIONS
  • Date: 5th January 2003
  • Summary: (U3) JERUSALEM (JANUARY 5, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. PAN: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON ENTERING CABINET MEETING (SOUND MUTE) 0.11 2. PAN FROM MINISTERS TO SHARON SITTING AROUND TABLE 0.21 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON SAYING: "We have a plan that basically is the same as President Bush's plan. Our plan giv
  • Embargoed: 20th January 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVAA33YG77B69V1MNP79KNXU9ZKY
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said a political
    process towards peace with the Palestinians was in
    view but would be lost to inexperience if his Labour Party
    opponent won in the upcoming elections scheduled for
    January 28.


    Speaking before a cabinet meeting on Sunday (January
    5), Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the Israeli
    government had created a peace plan which was similar to one
    U.S. President George W. Bush had proposed.

    "Our plan gives us the chance to win the war against terror
    and the terror leadership and to open a real road to peace.

    There are cracks in the Palestinian side and I see a real
    opportunity for the start of a political process. I will not
    let this opportunity slip from our hands because of mistakes
    emerging from the inexperience of Mr. (Amram) Mitzna (Labor
    party candidate in upcoming elections)."
    Sharon, elected two years ago on the strength of his hawkish
    image, faces national polls on January 28. Opinion polls on
    Friday showed his rightist Likud party holding on to power
    despite a cash-for-votes scandal which has prompted a police
    probe.

    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said earlier this week
    he feared Israel could exploit a possible U.S.-led war against
    Iraq to escalate military attacks on Palestinians. Israel,
    which reoccupied much of the West Bank last year following
    suicide bombings, says it acts only in self-defence.

    The United States, Israel's guardian ally, has been
    calling for calm in the Middle East to avoid complicating its
    plans for a possible military campaign against Iraq, which
    Washington accuses of seeking weapons of mass destruction.

    The Palestinians obtained self-rule in parts of the West
    Bank and Gaza under interim deals in 1994-95 but negotiations
    on a state broke down in mid-2000, sparking the uprising in
    which at least 1,760 Palestinians and 676 Israelis have been
    killed.


    awa/rz

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