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Sharon Ready To Meet Arafat And Proposes Israeli Unity Government
WASHINGTON & MOSCOW, Feb 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli right-wing leader Ariel Sharon told Russian television Friday that if he wins his country's elections he would undoubtedly be ready to hold peace talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
After Tuesday's elections Sharon said that he was prepared to ask the trailing rival, Prime Minister Ehud Barak to join an Israeli "government of unity."
"I am ready to lead negotiations [with Arafat] in order to avoid a war, and I will avoid a war," Sharon said through a Russian translator. "I personally know about all the horrors of war and we will have peace."
Barak said he was willing to sit down at the negotiating table "with all the Palestinian sides," and urged Middle Eastern states to get more involved in the stalled peace process.
Sharon added that if Israeli-Palestinian violence, which has already claimed nearly 400 lives, continue, Arafat would be denied free travel in Israel.
"Right now he and other PLO VIPs travel freely, and everyone knows this," Sharon said. "If there are murders, we have to prevent this from happening. This will not happen."
And he again vowed to keep a unified Jerusalem under strict Israeli command.
"I will keep a unified Jerusalem as the single capital of Israel forever. It has been the capital of Jews for some 2,000 years," Sharon said. "No one speaks of splitting up Moscow or Washington."
In spite of the Palestinians holding only 42% of the West Bank, Sharon's peace plan consists of linking the West Bank Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus by a tunnel or road, along with a staunch refusal to give Palestinians any more land.
In regards to the elections, Sharon predicted an easy victory for himself but again suggested that his Likud party was willing to open its cabinet to Barak - an offer which the caretaker prime minister has so far refused.
"If I will win, and I am sure that I will, then I will call on Mr. Barak and his party that very evening and ask them to join a government of unity," said Sharon. "I am sure that he would work well in our team."
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