|
Sharon pledges progress toward peace
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-12 09:19
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged Tuesday to continue with steps
toward peace with the Palestinians, but only if they do their part first, while
ruling out new initiatives.
Greeting party leaders on the occasion of the Jewish New Year and Day of
Atonement, Sharon said he would follow the internationally backed "road map"
plan that calls for a Palestinian state.
Sharon ruled out new peace plans. "We have nothing new to invent," he said.
"We have a plan the Cabinet accepted, the road map, that can be implemented if
the Palestinians do their part. I definitely plan to continue this." Israel
insists the Palestinians must dismantle violent groups before Israel takes any
steps.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Channel 10 TV in an interview just
before Sharon's address that the Palestinians are committed to the road map plan
and expect Israel to carry out its obligations. These include a halt to
construction in West Bank settlements and removal of dozens of unauthorized
outposts there.
The Likud Party gathering outside Tel Aviv was Sharon's first since a
blistering internal battle for leadership that followed Israel's pullout from
Gaza and part of the West Bank, a move unpopular with much of the hard-line
Likud leadership.
Sharon appealed for party unity in the year before elections are to be held
and said he would not tolerate party rebellions in the future.
"We will have to get used to the fact that the Likud faction will support the
decisions of the government," he said. "We cannot continue with the present
situation."
If his party does not rally around him, Sharon could be forced to call an
early election.
Sharon basked in praise following the pullout, noting his
uncharacteristically warm welcome at the United Nations last month.
Also, he said, "there is certainly a process of strengthening relations with
moderate Muslim nations." Arab states in the Gulf region are cautiously
upgrading relations, and Israeli and Pakistani foreign ministers had their first
public meeting last month.
|
