"We are at the beginning of the implementation of the first stage of the roadmap,” Sharon

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Aug 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In an apparent attempt to lessen the pressure his government is facing over its controversial separation wall, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned his government would not tolerate the slightest Palestinian violation of the roadmap for peace, the Israeli media reported Friday, August 1.

"The experience of the past shows that the worst mistake, after reaching an agreement, is ignoring violations in implementation, even if they appear small," Sharon said in a speech to the national defense college Thursday, July 31.

The Premier argued that France and Britain's tolerance of violations by the German Nazi regime of all signed agreements led to war rather than peace.

"We are at the beginning of the implementation of the first stage of the roadmap, which is based on a ceasefire and specific steps toward a total cessation of violence, terrorism and incitement," Sharon said.

"There is no progression from one phase to the next before the full implementation of the previous one," he stressed.

The roadmap for peace, which was drafted by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, was presented to both sides in late April 2003 and its implementation officially started with the June 4 Aqaba summit.

The first stage of the three-phase blueprint, which was due to have been completed by in May 2003, calls on the Palestinian Authority to crack down on resistance groups but also requires Israel to dismantle all settlement outposts erected since March 2001 and freeze all settlement activity.

So far, Israel failed to meet its commitments, especially in dismantling existing settlements and freezing the building of new ones.

Powell Pressures Israel Again

Arafat called for an emergency meeting of the Quartet

In another development, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell warned that the barrier Israel is building to seal it off from the West Bank could undermine the roadmap for peace, in an interview published Friday by the Israeli daily Maariv.

"The continued construction will make the implementation of the next phase of the roadmap very difficult," Powell told the daily.

A day after Israel announced the completion of the first section of the barrier, which comprises a tall double fence and a length of concrete wall, Powell said U.S. President George W. Bush was concerned and supported the Palestinian view that it amounted to a new border.

"The President is concerned by this issue because the fence is a fait accompli which determines the borders of a Palestinian state," he stressed.

Arafat Calls For Quartet Meeting

On the other hand, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Thursday called for an emergency meeting of the Quartet of international mediators who drafted the road map to discuss "the escalation in Israeli action." The foursome is made up of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.

Arafat was speaking at a meeting held in his Ramallah headquarters of the senior leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the PA, among them Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and several ministers.

Arafat's aide, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that "the senior Palestinians called for the Quartet to convene urgently to make a number of decisions in light of the escalation in Israeli activities."

Ahead of the meeting, Abu Rudeineh said that its participants "would examine the Israeli escalation expressed through the lack of release of [Palestinian] prisoners, the continuation of the settlements, the refusal to withdraw from residential areas and  the construction of the wall," a reference to the fence that Israel is building to separate itself from the West Bank.

Palestinian Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike

In a separately-related development, hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners in three different prisons began a hunger strike Friday morning to demand that Israel release prisoners and to protest prison conditions, Israel Radio was quoted by Isaeli daily Ha’aretz, as reporting Friday.

The striking prisoners are incarcerated in the Hadarim Detention Center in the Sharon region, Shatta Prison in the Beit She'an Valley, and Eshel Prison in the south, according to the paper.

Meanwhile, Israeli public radio reported Friday that Palestinian prisoners to be freed by Israel will have to sign a pledge not to “offend again” before they can walk out of jail.

Quoting a decision by a government commission which has been handling the release of prisoners as part of the peace process with the Palestinians, each detainee will be warned that he will have to serve out the rest of his original sentence if caught again.

Israel has said it will soon free 540 Palestinian prisoners, including 210 members of Islamic resistance groups who have not been involved in deadly violence, and 100 common criminals.

The Palestinians are demanding the release of all 6,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and the main resistance groups have made this a condition for maintaining a truce of at least three months they declared at the end of June.