Roadmap is lost, says Sharon
2004-04-28 07:53
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Tuesday that the internationally backed "roadmap" peace blueprint that sought to create an independent Palestinian state by 2005 was dead.
"I would have preferred to negotiate an agreement (with the Palestinians) but several months ago I realised that it is not possible to move the roadmap forward because the Palestinians do not respect their commitments," he said in an interview broadcast on Israel's second television channel.
He confirmed that he decided to implement his own package of unilateral measures, including an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, after reaching this conclusion.
The European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States launched the peace blueprint last year amid great fanfare.
The roadmap envisions the creation of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank along with guarantees for a halt to attacks against Israel.
In the interview given to mark the 56th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel, Sharon said he was confident that his right-wing Likud party would approve his "disengagement" plan in a referendum on May 2.
'All Israelis want peace'
"I think that members of Likud, who like all Israelis want peace, will back the separation plan.
"If this plan is not passed, it would be a great victory for Yasser Arafat and Hamas, and would strain our relations with the United States after the assurances they gave," he said.
During talks at the White House earlier this month, US President George W Bush endorsed Sharon's plan to retreat from Gaza but hold on to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Reversing decades of US policy, Bush also said that that Palestinian refugees could not return to land lost when Israel was created in 1948.
In extracts of the same interview broadcast on Friday, Sharon said he had told Bush that he was "no longer bound" by a promise he had made three years ago not to attack Arafat for his alleged backing of "terrorists".
The road map for Middle East peace was drawn up last year by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
Earlier on Tuesday, Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said the Palestinian Authority was banking on a May meeting of the roadmap quartet to obtain guarantees on principles for the peace process.
- AFP