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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (67344)	1/21/2003 10:44:29 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Sharon's Stand on Peace Plan Is Sharply Rebuked by Powell Associated Press Updated January 20, 2003 10:02 p.m. EST UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a stiff reply to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Monday the Bush administration intended to push ahead vigorously with a peace plan devised in conjunction with European leaders. He said a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was essential and that the Bush administration would proceed immediately after Israel holds elections next week. Mr. Sharon, who is facing concession-minded Labor Party candidate Amram Mitzna in his bid for another term as prime minister, said on Sunday that European nations were biased in favor of the Palestinians and couldn't be Middle East mediators. The U.S., the U.N., Russia and the European Union are jointly backing a roadmap to a settlement that sets Palestinian statehood by 2005 as a goal. The plan, which is likely to be endorsed by the U.S. and its partners next month, doesn't call for a change in the Palestinian leadership, as President Bush has demanded. Mr. Sharon, while not dealing directly with provisions of the roadmap, said he saw "eye-to-eye" with the Americans, apparently referring to Mr. Bush, whose support for Israel far exceeds that of the Europeans. Mr. Powell, at a news conference on Monday, closed ranks with the Europeans on peacemaking, though. He said "we are fully supportive of the quartet [the four powers that drew up the roadmap]" and have worked very hard on the plan. Once Israel holds its elections, he said, the U.S. and its partners intend to move ahead. In a day of speechmaking at a U.N. conference on terrorism there were repeated calls for Palestinian statehood and criticism of Israel as an occupying force. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, were among the ministers who spoke on behalf of the Palestinians and didn't criticize their leadership. Meanwhile, polls showed Mr. Sharon's Likud Party widening its lead over the more dovish Labor Party. While that merely confirmed an existing trend, results of another survey indicated that if longtime politician Shimon Peres headed Labor, the race with Mr. Sharon would be a dead heat. Newspaper polls Monday showed his Likud receiving 31 to 33 seats of the 120 in the parliament, with Mr. Mitzna's Labor winning only 19. However, a Maariv poll showed that if Mr. Peres led Labor it would win 29 seats to Likud's 30. More importantly, the bloc of hawkish and religious parties led by Likud might be denied a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The Maariv survey, conducted by the New Wave polling firm, questioned 1,000 eligible voters and had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. Parties are allowed to change candidates for prime minister, but it never has happened this close to an election. After the poll was published, Labor legislator Weizman Shiri said Mr. Mitzna should find a way to step down. The 79-year-old Mr. Peres, speaking from Rome, rejected the idea, saying, "The Labor Party has an elected chairman and he will lead it into the coming elections." Mr. Mitzna showed no inclination to step aside. "I came here to win, and I am staying on as head of the Labor Party without any limitations and without any conditions, because there is no other alternative," he told party activists Monday. Copyright (c) 2003 The Associated Press