Palestinian Authority Blasts Sharon’s Ultimatum, 'Unilateral Steps'

News, November 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Israeli PM Internationally, Internally Pressured, His Ruling Coalition Fractured

29/11/2003

Palestine Media Center – PMC

Palestinian leadership has blasted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s ultimatum to the Palestine National Authority (PNA) that Israel might annex land if peace negotiations fail and his threats to resort to “positive unilateral steps” as a public relations ploy, "a propaganda stunt," that is “tactical in nature,” and “an unprecedented, arrogant statement,” which “is rude and lacks any vision,” which proves he is “not serious” and seeks “to escape the implementation of the road map.”

Israeli media have reported a ''Sharon Plan'' to uproot some of the illegal Jewish settlements and then draw the borders of a Palestinian state along the lines of the Apartheid Wall Israel is building on occupied Palestinian land in the West bank if the peace plan fails.

''This means they don't want to make peace. It is against the road map,'' Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told Reuters late on Monday.

Questioned whether Israel would respect any ceasefire, Arafat said: ''For this (to work) there must be a strong push and if not to send U.N. forces, then at least United Nations observers.''

''They are following this plan to escape the implementation of the roadmap,'' said Arafat.

"You do not have unlimited time," Sharon told a news conference on Thursday, addressing the Palestinians, adding that if he feels the Palestinians are not serious about negotiating a peace deal, he may take unilateral steps. "Maybe (the Palestinians) can get things now that they won't be able to get then," he said.

The Palestinians, who claim all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip for a state, responded to Sharon's warning of seemingly impatience and annexation with a sharp rebuke.

"This is an unprecedented, arrogant statement. It is rude and it lacks any vision," Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said. "He should declare that he is committed to the 'road map' and implement all the Israeli commitments that are in this map," referring to a US-backed peace plan, which was drafted by a Quartet of the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations.

The UN Security Council recently passed a Russian-drafted resolution number 1515, adopting the “roadmap” peace plan.

Israeli Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned Russian ambassador Gennady Tarasov to officially express Israel's “objections" over the Russian-drafted resolution.

Qurei, Sharon Debate in Public

Sharon also told Israeli legislators from his right-wing Likud party Monday that he would not agree to preconditions to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, who wants guarantees for a summit to yield results before agreeing to a date.

Qurei told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya satellite channel Sharon should take "serious steps" so talks between the two sides could resume. Israel must stop building a barrier separating it from the West Bank, halt settlement expansion, ease Palestinian suffering and lift the travel ban imposed on Palestinian leader Arafat, he said.

Then in an interview with AFP, Qurie said that deadlock could only be broken if Israel halted construction of the Apartheid Wall and stopped all settlement activity.

“First, they must stop completely the building of the wall and destroy every millimeter which has been built on Palestinian land,'' he said.

“If he (Sharon) wants to build it on Israeli land this is something we cannot do anything about but we would prefer that there was no wall at all.

“Second, they must stop all settlement activity and evacuate all these settlement outposts which was agreed upon in the roadmap and to stop the process of isolating of Jerusalem. We will not allow Jerusalem to be isolated from its Arab and Palestinian surroundings.''

PNA Parliamentary Speaker Rules out any Breakthrough

Sharon in his press conference would not define what he meant by "positive unilateral steps," saying only that they would make Israeli life easier. The term is understood to mean he might order people to withdraw from some isolated Jewish settlements.

Netzarim, a heavily guarded enclave in Gaza, would be at the top of most lists for evacuation, and Sharon indicated a shift about the settlement. Up to now, Sharon has said it is essential for Israel's security because it overlooks Gaza's port. But at the news conference, he refused to give any guarantees.

"I won't give any promise to any person about any place," Sharon said. "It is clear that in the future we will not be in all the places we are now," conceding that in a peace deal, Israel would have to give up territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian legislative council Speaker Rafiq Natshe was more vocal than PNA officials in slamming Sharon’s ambiguous “positive unilateral steps” and ruled out the possibility of any real breakthrough toward peace with Israel as long as Sharon remains in power.

Speaking during an interview with Aljazeera.net on 21 November, Natshe, who was recently elected as Speaker of the 88-member Legislative Council, described the Israeli premier as “having a mentality that is alien to peace.”

“We are facing a racist, criminal and Nazi-like regime that flies in the face of international law. Therefore, there is no hope for any real breakthrough as long as this man (Sharon) remains at the helm of Israeli politics.”

Natshe dismissed Israel’s purported willingness to reach a ceasefire with the Palestinians as “tactical in nature and motivated by public relations considerations.”

Sharon’s Impatient Gallery of Critics

Sharon's talk about possible “painful concessions” was aimed at an increasingly impatient gallery of critics, ranging from US officials, international donors, Palestinian –Israeli peace initiatives to Israeli bickering ruling partners to ordinary Israelis despondent over worsening security and living standards.

Sharon said Thursday he remained committed to the “roadmap,” which his government accepted in principle in June, although Israel attached 14 reservations. The plan calls for a Palestinian state by 2005.

Sharon has also ignored the roadmap's call for a freeze on construction in more than 162 Jewish settlements and 103 “unauthorized” settler outposts where about 420,000 illegal settlers live.

PNA premier Qurie announced Thursday that his cabinet director would meet next week with the chief of staff of his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon.

He told reporters here that the meeting was aimed at preparing a meeting between himself and Sharon.

In a speech to Israeli reporters, Sharon said: "If this meeting hasn't happened, it's the Palestinians' fault. We don't want to force them but such a meeting is necessary to restore calm and peace."

Palestinian FM Shaath told The Jerusalem Post Monday that Egyptian officials mediating a ceasefire agreement between the PNA and Palestinian groups were confident of reaching a deal by December 9.

Assistant Secretary of State William Burns will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next weekend for the first time since August, then Egypt, before joining Secretary of State Colin Powell on a tour of North Africa, State Department said Tuesday.

The Bush administration has sent new signals to PM Sharon demanding that his government stop its expansion of settlements and the construction of the Wall, administration officials said Monday.

The US decided Tuesday to deduct Israeli expenditures on the Apartheid Wall and settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, worth $289.5 million, from the first $3 billion tranche of the US $9 billion loan guarantees to the Jewish state.

On Wednesday also International aid donors -- including World Bank, IMF, United Nations, Norway, Russia, Canada and Japan -- issued a final warning to the Israeli government that they may halt activities in West Bank and Gaza Strip unless Israel eases its restrictions imposed on Palestinian population in occupied territories.

Italy plans to host a G8 donors' conference in mid-December to raise cash to help rebuild the Palestinian economy, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told parliament on Wednesday.

Separately British PM Tony Blair’s personal envoy to the Middle East Thursday met in London with Palestinian top security adviser Jibril al-Rjoub, MP Ziad Abu Zayyad and Israeli PM Ariel Sharon’s son Omri at the start of a two-day conference on the “roadmap” peace plan.

In Israel itself Labor Party Tuesday announced its principles for a peace agreement with the Palestinians, including a return to the June 4, 1967 borders, a division of Jerusalem, opposition to the right of return, and building a “separation fence” on the Green Line.

Leader of the party Shimon Peres urged Sharon to pull Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and settlers out of the Gaza Strip immediately, saying: "I do not see any reason for us staying in Gaza. Gaza is a burden on our shoulders," he told Reuters

Among the world Jewish community Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, has issued a call to American Jews to exert their political influence in the US in order to make the US administration prompt Israel to freeze all settlements immediately, regardless of what the Palestinians are doing.

Divisions among Sharon’s Ruling Coalition

Among Sharon’s ruling coalition bickering and divisions hit the partners.

Hawkish Cabinet Minister Uzi Landau reportedly said Israel should dismantle the PNA because it was doing nothing to fight “terror.”

But “Defense” Minister Shaul Mofaz disagreed and was quoted as saying that assuming "responsibility for three million Palestinians would be a grave mistake."

Moreover and following on the heels of the "roadmap" plan, "Geneva Initiative," which is being officially launched on Monday, and “Sharon’s plan,” the Israeli PM’s own Likud party is divided over a settlers’ blueprint that rejects the principle of trading land for peace.

Ben Tzvi Lieberman, a senior member of the Settlers' Council, said that an alternative plan was needed as the roadmap and Geneva plans were "very bad solutions.”

The plan would involve "the eradication of terrorism, the abandonment of the principle of peace in exchange for land, autonomous administration for the Arabs and a final regional accord which would exclude the creation of a Palestinian state or the dismantling of settlements," Lieberman told public radio.

The plan functionally divides the West Bank into ten Jewish and Palestinian blocs, eight for Jews and two for Palestinians, but all under Israeli sovereignty and gerrymandered to guarantee a Jewish majority in the Knesset.

The radio reported that the plan was drawn up by 14 right-wing members of parliament, including some from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's own Likud party and settler leaders.

The right-wing camp was divided over the plan and several prominent right-wingers began signing a petition against it.

Among those signing petitions against the Settlers Council plan are ideologues like Rabbis Shlomo Aviner, Zalman Melamed, Dov Lior, Moshe Levinger, Aryeh Stav, Benny Katzover, Menachem Felix, Yossi Ben Aharon, Moshe Peled, and Yael and Palmach Ze'evi. Also signing a petition were individuals from Ma'amatz, the anti-Oslo accords and pro-outpost group, Likud "Land of Israel Loyalists," and Women in Green.

UNESCO on Thursday marked World Day of Solidarity with Palestinians.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03.

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