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Sharon Supporters Clash with Peres Over Proposed Peace Plan
TEL AVIV, Dec 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Right-wing Israeli leaders were seething Sunday, demanding Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' immediate sacking after it emerged that Peres recently floated another plan for a settlement with the Palestinians, which includes the creation of an independent Palestinian state within eight weeks.
Tourism Minister Benny Elon, a member of the far-right National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu alliance, called Peres "the inveterate saboteur" - a phrase coined by Peres' one-time political rival, assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin - and demanded that hardline Prime Minister Ariel Sharon immediately evict him from the government.
"The prime minister has made very clear statements," added Elon. "There is a clear policy of not negotiating under fire. Whoever violates this … and makes a laughing stock of the government in the present emergency situation, has to be immediately dismissed."
Environment Minister Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) echoed Elon's cry, adding that "the problem" with Peres' plans was that "even the most fantastic plans with him begin to gather momentum. So we have to prevent this plan from traveling even one millimeter."
According to the Peres proposal, details of which appeared Sunday in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Israel will recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip within eight weeks, and the newly created Palestine will recognize the Jewish state.
According to a report in Ha'aretz on Friday, the nascent state will exist in Gaza and in Area A [under Palestinian control] and Area B [under Israeli security control] in the West Bank, which constitutes some 40% of the total area there.
The two sides will initially agree to a U.S.-sponsored ceasefire, the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) will confiscate illegal weapons and move against resistance groups, while Israel will lift the blockades on Palestinian cities and end the assassination of Palestinians.
Final status negotiations between the two sides, on issues like Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem and the settlements, are to take place between nine to 12 months, with the agreement to be implemented within 18 to 24 months.
Peres, and his ministry director, General Avi Gil, have held talks with the speaker of the P.A. legislative council, Abu Ala, and Mohammed Rashid - Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's top financial advisor - as well as Mohammed Dahlan, the head of Preventive Security in Gaza, about the proposal.
Despite his oft-repeated pledge not to conduct negotiations under fire, Sharon has been aware of contacts between Peres and senior Palestinian officials with whom the foreign minister has been hatching his plan.
Ha'aretz diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn reports that Peres updated Sharon last week about his talks and presented the plan to him. Sharon also agreed that Peres could continue with his dialogue.
In Sharon's view, says Benn, the Peres plan does not constitute a wild deviation from the parameters of an agreement that are palatable to the prime minister, especially since they do not include the evacuation of settlements.
The hardline Israeli Prime Minister said earlier this year that he would be prepared to recognize a Palestinian state. He has also said that this state should cover no more than 50% of the West Bank.
But Sharon, clearly alarmed by the publication of the plan and the possible political fallout, and fearful of losing his right-wing flank in the coalition, released a statement calling the plan "baseless" and "dangerous." But the statement did not deny that the prime minister was aware of Peres' contacts with the Palestinians.
At least according to official Palestinian statements, Sharon can relax.
While Israeli Army Radio reported a source close to Arafat saying that the P.A. leader had consented to the plan, all Palestinian leaders speaking on record Sunday repeated the traditional line: that they would not accept any plan that is not based on a full Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders and which does not include East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
"Any agreement that is not based on [United Nations General Assembly] Resolution 242, on a full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories conquered in 1967, will be a flawed agreement," said P.A. Minister Ziyad Abu Zayad.
A statement also issued by Palestinian Authority Information Minister Yasser Abed-Rabbo said the reported proposals fell far short of the state Palestinians envisioned.
Abed Rabbo, referring to the patchwork of territory now under the control of the Palestinian Authority, said in the statement the reported plan would only "transform the names of the cantons and isolated areas from an Authority to a state."
Palestinians would "remain under a de facto occupation, but under an illusive cover called a 'state,"' the statement added.
Palestinians have demanded a state in all of the West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
Despite the cold water poured on the purported plan, its apparent leak to the newspaper suggested that senior leaders from both sides might be looking past Israeli-Palestinian violence, now in its 15th month, towards a permanent peace deal.
By recognizing Israel, as most Palestinians did in the 1993 Oslo accords, they have yielded some 77% of mandated Palestine stretching from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River - a big concession in Palestinian eyes which activists refuse to accept.
The Israeli perception is different. In two wars, in 1948 and 1967, Israel conquered the entire area, so handing back land occupied since 1967 - effectively the West Bank and Gaza - is seen by many Israelis as more than generous.
Several months ago, Peres announced he was drafting a peace proposal to be submitted to Sharon. The prime minister then said both he and Peres would jointly draw up a peace plan.
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