“…Not demanding a return to the 1967 borders... and the total refusal of allowing Palestinian refugees to return to Israel,” Sharon said.

GAZA STRIP, December 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Palestinians vehemently rejected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s statements there was an historic chance for peace in 2005, while adamantly dismissing any Israeli return to the pre-1967 borders or allowing Palestinian refugees back to their homeland.

Sharon declared in a conference in Herzliya Thursday, December 16, that he had succeeded in getting US President George Bush to agree that any settlement would preserve Israel’s “most essential interests”.

“…Not demanding a return to the 1967 borders [between Israel and the West Bank], allowing Israel to permanently keep large settlement blocks ... and the total refusal of allowing Palestinian refugees to return to Israel," Sharon said, according to British daily the Independent.

Palestinian presidential frontrunner Mahmoud Abbas slammed the keynote speech, saying they discredit Sharon ’s allegation of hopes for an historic breakthrough in the Middle East conflict with Palestinians.

“I completely reject Sharon 's speech and wonder why America , in principle, accepts decisions that previously determine the future of Palestinian issues,” Abbas told Al-Jazeera after Sharon ’s speech.

Abbas added: “We will never concede the right of return and the keeping of illegal settlement outposts which have been rejected since 1967. Sharon is the obstacle in the way of peace.”

He noted that the speech was based on a “deal between Sharon and Bush in March 2004 which tackled three main issues - withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, keeping the settlement outposts and no to a return of Palestinian refugees.”

At the summit, Bush gave Sharon a written guarantee that Washington would never press its close alley to withdraw from the entire occupied Palestinian West Bank under any peace settlement.

Bush also backtracked in an interview published May 8 on the 2005 date he set two years ago for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Palestinians consider the three issues at Sharon ’s speech as fundamentals on the agenda of any coming leadership, citing the support for them by earlier UN resolutions.

“Nothing New”

“We will never concede the right of return… Sharon is the obstacle in the way of peace,” Abbas said.

Sharon ’s assurances on the withdrawal from the West Bank and return of refugees or settlement evacuation brought discredit to his whole speech, which also carries olive branches, according to observers.

The hawkish premier insisted that his controversial plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip would be implemented within the coming year and that he hoped that it would be coordinated with the Palestinians -- although he had earlier refused to do so.

“In 2005 we have the opportunity for an historic breakthrough in relations between us and the Palestinians,” Sharon told delegates, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“We will act with all our might to ensure that this year of opportunity will not become a year of missed opportunities,” he said.

Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina insisted Sharon 's disengagement plan did not go far enough to justify raising hopes of a real breakthrough next year.

“We still demand implementation of the roadmap and an Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied territories so that we can create our state,” he said, referring to an 18-month-old internationally drafted blueprint for Palestinian statehood in 2005.

The plan envisages the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2005 after a number of reciprocal confidence-building measures by Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel has expressed reluctance to abide by the plan, drafted by the Quartet group of the European Union, United Nations, Russia and the United States.

London Conference

Meanwhile, Israel has expressed fears that the British plans for a Middle East conference in London were designed to secure an internationally imposed solution to the conflict, according to the Independent.

Sharon has written to British Prime Minister Tony Blair giving his approval to the conference but stressing that he sees its primary purpose as seeking reform and regeneration of the Palestinian economy, according to the daily.

Sharon has been encouraged, the paper said, by assurances given on a visit early this week to Israel by Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Blair's senior foreign policy adviser that Britain is not seeking to jump-start a final settlement.

But Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian cabinet minister, said the focus of the conference should be “on substance ­ and the substance here is ending the Israeli occupation”.

Britain has rejected any idea it ever sought a big international Middle East summit like the Madrid conference called by George Bush Snr after the 1990-91 Gulf War.

According to the British daily, Sharon 's senior adviser, Dov Weisglass, said the conference would be a “meeting between Palestinians, a few European countries and a few American officials.

“It will entirely be focused on how the world can help the Palestinians prepare themselves for the new era.”

Indeed, London was not originally sure about inviting Israel , partly because of fears the conference would degenerate into a row, according to the Independent.

But after weeks of diplomacy, Israel appears to envisage attending while seeking to narrow the focus mainly on to the Palestinian economy.