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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (1352)	12/27/2001 12:24:50 PM
From: Scoobah	Respond to of 32591

PM: Peres peace plan has 'many problems,' no gov't mandate By Yossi Verter, Ha'aretz Correspondent, Ha'aretz Service and DPA Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday that the diplomatic plan being formed in talks between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia (better known as Abu Ala) had "many problems," was unacceptable to him and had no government mandate. Sharon told Likud activists during a meeting at Metzudat Ze'ev, the party's headquarters in Tel Aviv, that the plan as it was published in the media "is completely opposed to something I stated very clearly to the government, to the foreign minister and to the European Union: that before a Palestinian state is discussed, it must be discussed in the government." "It was not discussed, therefore [the idea] is neither valid nor does it have a mandate. If and when the day comes, the government will discuss the matter." Israel Radio reported that the prime minister will announce at the next cabinet meeting that no member of the government is authorized to discuss a Palestinian state without the approval of the government. This announcement is part of an agreement Sharon reached Thursday with the far-right National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu party. Sharon reiterated earlier Thursday that no diplomatic talks would be held with the Palestinians until terror attacks ceased completely. When talks do resume, he said, he plans to personally direct them. The talks, he said, "will be directed from the Prime Minister's Office, in cooperation with the foreign minister." Senior Palestinian officials said Thursday that the talks between Peres and Abu Ala will continue over the weekend when the Palestinian Parliament Speaker returns from visits to Egypt and Jordan. Abu Ala and PA Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo are holding meetings with officials in the two countries to discuss the contacts with Peres. The Palestinians insist that the talks will focus on the demand to create a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, and that the status of Jerusalem will also be discussed. Senior Israeli diplomatic sources said that some ministers in the government are demanding that the Peres-Abu Ala contacts be discussed in the next cabinet meeting. The prime minister said earlier Thursday that the level of Palestinian terror had decreased, but that the campaign to prevent attacks was far from over, Israel Radio reported. Sharon attributed the decrease to the pressure Israel is exerting on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. Nabil Sha'ath: Political contacts continue Political contacts between Israel and the Palestinians have never ceased and will continue in the future, Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Sha'ath said Thursday. The ongoing contacts aim to achieve political progress and not only to solve security issues, he told a news conference in Gaza. His remarks contradicted those of Prime Minister Sharon, who has said that contacts between the sides focused solely on security subjects related to ending attacks against Israel. Reffering to the Peres-Abu Ala talks, Sha'ath said "the aim of continuing such contacts is to save the Palestinian people, protect them and achieve their goals." He then listed several issues he believed should kick off negotiations with Israel. The first, he said, was the implementation of a six-week ceasefire under U.S. supervision, during which Palestinian militants would end their attacks on Israeli targets, while the Israeli army would withdraw from the areas it had occupied in the 15 months of ongoing violence between the sides. Israel would also freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The second issue was the declaration of an independent Palestinian state and the mutual recognition between Palestine and Israel, and the third - the final status talks on Jerusalem and the right of return for Palestinian refugees - should begin two weeks after implementing the six-week ceasefire. "The disagreement is whether to declare the Palestinian state before or after the final status talks, because we want the territories of this state to be those of before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war," Sha'ath said. He said Israel and the Palestinians in their ongoing contacts also disagreed on whether the final status talks should be completed within nine or twelve months. "It is not a big deal whether to finalize the talks within nine or twelve months. The most important thing is that it should not take twelve years," Sha'ath said. "The Israelis are led by this man (Ariel Sharon) who does not want to see a beginning or an end to the peace negotiations with us." "We struggle to achieve these goals for our people by rifle and rocks, but at the same time we would never drop the olive branch from our considerations," he said. haaretzdaily.com