Mid-East quartet backs Sharon
2004-05-04 21:42
New York - The diplomatic quartet for the Middle East moved on Tuesday to revive their stalled "road map" for peace by endorsing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and reassuring Palestinians that any final settlement would be negotiated.
The United Nations, United States, Russia and the European Union threw their support behind the proposal to withdraw Israeli troops and settlements from Gaza.
It is a move that has broad support among the Israeli population, but was rejected by Sharon's Likud party in a weekend referendum.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding Sharon's disengagement plan, the quartet seized on the proposal as a way to breath new life into the moribund road map, which has languished since being endorsed by all sides last June.
The four powers said in a statement read to reporters by UN chief Kofi Annan: "The quartet welcomes and encourages such a step, which should provide a rare moment of opportunity in the search for peace in the Middle East.
Rejected it in a referendum
"This initiative, which must bring about a full Israeli withdrawal and complete end of occupation in Gaza, can be a step towards achieving the two-state vision."
Sharon put forward the "unilateral" plan for an Israeli pullout of Gaza after saying he had no Palestinian partner to negotiate with in the stalled peace process.
But his rightwing Likud party rejected it in a referendum on Sunday after a vigorous campaign from hardline Israeli settlers opposed to giving back any Gaza land to the Palestinians.
According to polls, a majority of Israelis support his plan and Sharon could decide to submit the issue for a national referendum. But that would require new legislation in parliament for which he is not guaranteed a majority.
The Likud vote was also a setback for US President George W Bush, who had backed the plan in the face of massive Arab opposition.
Bush drew criticism from enraged Arabs when he embraced it and said Israel could be allowed to keep parts of the West Bank and deny Palestinian refugees the right to return to land that was theirs when Israel was created in 1948.
'Some assurance to the Arab world'
US secretary of state Colin Powell said he believed the quartet statement would assuage Arab concerns that Bush had given away two of the Palestinians' strongest bargaining chips in endorsing the Sharon plan.
"I think that the statement we have made today on behalf of the quartet... is some assurance to the Arab world and to the whole world that we are committed to the basis upon which the peace process rests," he said.
If Israel proceeds with a withdrawal, the quartet said all land and Israeli-built infrastructure should be handed over to a "reorganised" Palestinian Authority in co-operation with the international community and Palestinian civil society.