Meanwhile
in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation forces shot dead a
60-year-old man near an Israeli army post, medics said after a
55-year-old Palestinian woman was also killed by Israeli gunfire while
she was tending to her sheep near a Jewish settlement in the Strip.
It
remained unclear how soon implementation of the plan would begin,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Though
the "roadmap" marks Washington's biggest push to revive
peacemaking since Israel reoccupied most of the West Bank last summer,
many analysts say it will be hard to overcome the sharp differences
and deep distrust between the two sides.
"I
think the hope is that the two sides will get together and begin
implementation. They will embark upon the roadmap together in good
faith," said one Western diplomat.
"The
Palestinians are supposed to call out unequivocally against terrorism
of all forms and begin to act against the perpetrators of terrorism.
Once that happens, the Israelis are supposed to ease measures against
the population," he added.
But
top Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said Israel must make the first move
towards implementing the plan and pull its troops out of Palestinian
cities it has reoccupied since a series of resistance bombings last
June.
"The
first step must be from Israel, which should withdraw its forces from
our cities in compliance with what the roadmap says. The international
community must force Israel to implement what's in the roadmap;
otherwise it will all just be a mockery," he said.
Up
For Discussion
Russian
envoy Andrei Vdovin said there would be discussion among the various
parties on the best mechanism for implementing the plan, which U.S.
acting consul Jeffrey Feltman said was being publish unchanged,
despite Israeli objections.
Israel,
however, appeared to believe the document was still up for discussion,
with the premier's office saying that the "process of submitting
remarks began two weeks ago and will continue with the United States
soon."
The
roadmap has been regarded as a significant step towards resuming talks
between the two sides.
U.S.
President George W. Bush immediately urged Israel and the Palestinians
to work with the United States, other powers and "directly with
each other to immediately end the violence and return to a path of
peace."
"An
opportunity now exists to move forward. The United States will do all
it can to seize this opportunity," Bush said, but "the pace
of progress will depend strictly on the performance of the
parties."
While
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday, April 29, deferred
plans for a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, saying it
was too early to press for implementation of the roadmap, U.S. Middle
East envoy William Burns is due in the West Bank next week to discuss
the peace plan's implementation.
The
European Commission, welcomed Abbas' swearing-in, saying it looked
forward to working closely with him.
For
his part, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan urged both sides to
"stay the course".
On
Tuesday, April 29, Abbas, 68, had promised parliament to tackle what
he called “rampant Palestinian violence”.
His
call for collecting “unauthorized” weapons was flatly rejected by
Islamic resistance group Hamas and Islamic Jihad and was viewed with
skepticism by many, including some of his own supporters.
Hamas
leader Ismail Haniyeh said his faction "strongly rejects the
roadmap which will give more security to the Zionists and change the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an inter-Palestinian
confrontation."
According
to the Haaretz daily, Israeli military intelligence does not rate the
new premier's chances of preventing resistance groups from repeating
their operations and warned that Arafat remained the boss.
Abbas
"may have opposed the violent Intifada from the first day, but
he's barely a third of the new political framework in the Palestinian
Authority. The other two thirds are Yasser Arafat and the “terror”
organizations, which continue to support violence," Haaretz
quoted military sources as saying.
And
ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers living in the occupied Palestinian
territories called for their government to reject the plan.
"This
peace plan is worse than the (1993) Oslo accords since it offers the
Palestinians a state before even resolving the questions of the status
of Jerusalem, the settlements, the return of Palestinian refugees and
the line of the borders," the Settlers Council said.
As
a first stage of the plan, settlers have to freeze their expansion and
dozens of outposts be dismantled.
