Israeli sources say Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has presented US President George Bush with his proposal for a small Palestinian state in "part" of the West Bank that would be forbidden to have an army.
Sharon reportedly made the proposal to Bush at their meeting at the White House on Tuesday.
The sources told Haaretz that Sharon’s map makes room for the establishment of “a small, but territorially-contiguous Palestinian state in part of the West Bank. The new state would enjoy economic cooperation with Israel, but would be subject to various security restrictions; for instance, it would be forbidden to maintain an army.”
Meanwhile, two chunks of the Occupied Territories that Sharon views as strategically important would remain under Israeli control: a wide strip in the Jordan Valley and a narrower strip on the western slopes of the Samarian hills, near the pre-1967 border of Israel. The former, Sharon told Bush, “would also help preserve Jordan's stability by separating it from the nascent Palestinian state.”
The sources declined to say whether Sharon spoke of evacuating isolated settlements as part of such an agreement. One source noted that the Mitchell Commission's report, which Israel has adopted, recommends that Israel consider evacuating certain settlements; but another said “it was too early to propose such concessions, given that negotiations had yet to begin.”
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that Sharon would be the one to decide if and when diplomatic talks should begin. Powell, who kicked off his visit to the region with a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said shortly before landing in Alexandria that although the violence appeared to have declined in recent days, Sharon had made it clear that he demanded an absolute cessation of “hostilities” before resuming talks.
Speaking at a press conference after the meeting with Mubarak, the US secretary of state added: "Nobody is claiming that the level of violence is down to a point where anybody could say it was either realistic or zero... But at the end of the day, it is Sharon who will make that judgment."
Sharon has said that he wants 10 days without violence before declaring the start of a six-week cooling-off period. The main purpose of Powell's visit is to try to speed up this process.
Powell meets Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Thursday hoping to build on the fragile ceasefire agreed two weeks ago without putting too much pressure on the two sides.
Powell will hold talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah, before meeting Sharon at his residence in the evening.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said his side would push hard to restart the peace process when it met with Powell, according to AFP.
"We have only one demand to submit to Powell, that is to establish a calendar defining the stages in the application of the (Mitchell) report," Erakat said.
"Sharon does not have the right to dictate to us his calendar nor his conditions. The United States, the European Union, the Arab World, the Palestinian Authority and Israel have said 'yes' to the report, and it is time to implement it," he said.
As Powell arrived in Israel, Israeli and Palestinian security officials resumed talks late Wednesday aimed at resolving outstanding questions about the ceasefire, a Palestinian security official told AFP.
The meeting in Tel Aviv, held with US representation, was the first between them since June 20. Resumption of security cooperation was one of the elements laid down in the accord.
Powell travels to Jordan to meet King Abdullah on Friday and will stop off in Paris on the way home to visit Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who is often critical of US policies.
PERES MAY MEET ARAFAT IN LISBON THIS WEEK
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Thursday he would not rule out talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat when the two men attend a Socialist International meeting in Lisbon later this week, reported AFP and Israeli press.
"The Socialist International meets once every two years, and this will be the case at the end of the week in Lisbon. I am honorary president of this important group, and I have agreed to take part in the meeting," Peres said on Israeli radio.
"Yasser Arafat has also agreed. We have not organized a meeting, but I do not rule one out."
Peres also recommended that people be removed from any Jewish settlements that have been expanded without government approval.
When asked about the visit to Israel by Powell, the foreign minister said "it is aimed primarily at calling on Yasser Arafat to make a 100 percent effort in the fight against terrorism."
Since the outbreak of the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict last September, CNN reports that Palestinians have killed over 112 Israelis with weapons ranging from stones and knives to machineguns and car bombs. Israeli military sources have reported well over 600 injuries to Israelis of Jewish descent.
In the same time period, according to CNN, Israeli soldiers and armed Jewish settlers have killed 13 Arab Israelis and over 458 Palestinians with weapons ranging from machineguns and tanks to US-made Apache helicopter gunships and F-16s.
According to Amnesty International, nearly 100 of the Palestinians killed were children.
In addition, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has reported over 14,000 Palestinians wounded, and over 520 killed.
Jewish author Noam Chomsky, who according to a New York Times Book Review article is “arguably the most important intellectual alive,” has been quoted as saying: “State terrorism is an extreme form of terrorism, generally much worse than individual terrorism because it has the resources of a state behind it.” – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
