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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 (8356)	12/16/2004 9:48:06 PM
From: Scoobah	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

Are the "palestinians" about to miss their last opportunity? Abbas rejects Sharon's offer to coordinate disengagement By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Reuters Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday that his disengagement plan was one that united the nation, and said that for Israel, "2005 is the year of great historic opportunity." Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas responded to Sharon's speech by rejecting his offer to coordinate Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The disengagement plan has improved Israel's international image, Sharon said in his annual keynote at the Herzliya Conference on Thursday evening, adding that "it is clear to everyone that we will not be in Gaza after a final status agreement." "In 2005, we will face a great historic opportunity to alter Israel's situation," he said, adding that a key element is implementation of the disengagement plan. "To do this, we have to take the initiative," he said. Sharon said that Israel's pullout from Gaza would ease demographic pressures on the country, and that he envisioned Israel as a democratic state with a strong Jewish majority. Turning to the January 9 elections in the Palestinian Authority to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat, Sharon said that Israel "will assist the Palestinian efforts to carry out elections in every possible way." The prime minister said that the death of Yasser Arafat on Nov 11. had offered a new chance for the emergence of Palestinian leaders ready to reach a deal with Israel. "We stand before a unique window of opportunity. Who knows when we will have this opportunity in the future. We must not miss this opportunity to reach an agreement," Sharon said. Addressing the Palestinians directly, the prime minister said, "We have no desire to rule over you or to run your affairs." Israel has previously said that it would pull its troops out of Palestinian population centers for 72 hours before, during and after the vote. But, Sharon said, the Palestinians must "eliminate terrorism" as a condition for progress toward a peace settlement. He said Israel would be prepared to coordinate its pullout from Gaza with a new Palestinian leadership that would take responsibility for fighting terrorism. However, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected Sharon's offer on Thursday evening to coordinate Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip next year. "The terms mentioned by Sharon were not new. They prejudge the final-status negotiations and are unacceptable," Abbas told Reuters in a telephone interview from Qatar. Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, who is in charge of negotiations with Israel, said Sharon's speech contained nothing new. "If he wants to withdraw from Gaza or anywhere else, no one will stop him. But as far as permanent settlement issues, this is dictation," he said. "We need negotiation, not dictation." Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri said Sharon's speech was "a declaration of war against the Palestinian people and the rights of the Palestinian people," adding, "our answer will be that we will move ahead in our resistance against the occupation." The Palestinians should have their own state, Sharon added, because to continue Israeli control over Palestinian areas would mean "one people maintaining control of another people" - an untenable situation. Regarding Israel's recently-improved relations with Egypt, Sharon thanked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for securing the release of Israeli Druze Azzam Azzam, who was freed earlier this month after eight years in a Cairo jail on spying charges. He added that Egyptian prevention of Palestinian weapons smuggling on the Egypt-Gaza border would lead to an Israeli pullout from the Philadelphi Route. The prime minister also lauded the Israeli security forces for halting terrorist organizations through a series of operations, and said that Israel has confronted terrorism, economic recession and international isolation over past four years, since the start of the Intifada. He also touched on Israel's domestic policy, saying that the state could not settle for mediocrity in its education system, and must aspire to be the best.