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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (250219)	4/23/2002 2:38:52 PM
From: Emile Vidrine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Sharon proposes annexation of 1/2 of West Bank! This has been the plan of the radical fundamentalist Jews and Sharon from the beginning of the Settlement Program. === Sharon plan for West Bank confirmed By Joyce Howard Price THE WASHINGTON TIMES Israel's foreign minister yesterday confirmed a report that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to annex up to half of the West Bank. But Shimon Peres said he does not see this as a permanent solution to the crisis in the Middle East. Interviewed yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press," the foreign minister was asked about the accuracy of a report yesterday in the London Sunday Telegraph, also published in The Washington Times, that Mr. Sharon has a plan calling for Israel to annex 50 percent of land in the West Bank. "It's accurate for a while, because that's what Sharon suggests as an INTERIM AGREEMENT," Mr. Peres said. "My judgment is they know this is not a solution" and that this is an "unofficial proposal." Existence of the Sharon plan was disclosed by Ephraim Sneh, the Israeli transport minister, who, like Mr. Peres, is a member of the Labor Party, not Mr. Sharon's Likud Party. Mr. Sneh told the London paper that the annexation plan is "incompatible with a two-state solution" since it suggests Mr. Sharon wants a Palestinian entity with far less land than envisioned under other peace plans. "It is not realistic," Mr. Sneh said. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who appeared on all the network talk shows yesterday, declined to comment on the published reports. Mr. Powell told NBC's "Meet the Press": "Let me talk to Prime Minister Sharon and his foreign policy advisers. I'm not familiar with the view of the minister of transportation." Mr. Powell said he believes both Mr. Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "understand we have to get to some form of negotiations, a political process that will take us to the desire that all sides have expressed for there to be a Palestinian state by the name of Palestine living side-by-side with a Jewish state, the state of Israel." The secretary, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," said that while Mr. Sharon has "acted vigorously" against "terrorist attacks," he has told Mr. Powell repeatedly that he "remains committed to negotiations that will lead to a Palestinian state." Adel al Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who will meet with President Bush on Thursday, referred to the West Bank annexation reports yesterday on "Meet the Press." Mr. Jubeir said the prince's main advice to Mr. Bush will be that the United States "must be engaged" in the Middle East, that it "must restrain Sharon" and "must put the peace process back on its proper track." "The onus is really on the Israeli government to make a decision to withdraw," he said. Mr. Powell reiterated that he believes he made "progress" toward peace during his recent visit to the Middle East. "I'm pleased to note this morning that Israeli forces are now out of the towns that we've been following so closely, with the exception of Israeli forces around Chairman Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah and at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem," Mr. Powell said on "Meet the Press," citing pullouts from Nablus, Jenin and sections of Ramallah. In addition, he said, "the violence has gone down somewhat in recent days as a result of Israeli actions and, perhaps, as a result of some Palestinian leaders wondering whether they were on the right track."