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Sharon Goes To U.S. To Talk “Peace”, Israeli Army Enters Tulkarem
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OCCUPIED JERUSALEM,
May 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Hawkish Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon flew Sunday, May 5, to Washington to present an
alleged plan for Middle East peace while Israeli occupation troops
continue their incursions into Palestinian territories.
Sharon’s
plans hinges on removing Palestinian president Yasser Arafat from the
process, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
To
press his point, Sharon took with him a 100-page file which attempts
to prove that Arafat's Palestinian Authority is financing (resistance
operations) terror attacks out of its own budget, which is funded in
large part by the European Union and the Arab world.
But
Israeli officials agreed that President George W. Bush was likely to
bend to pressure from Arab states as he forges a new U.S. Middle East
policy, and urge Sharon to accept Arafat at least in the short term.
Israeli
government spokesman Avi Pazner told French television Sunday that
Sharon "is going to propose to President Bush to try to find an
alternative to Arafat to carry out negotiations.
"But
it is very possible that the Americans, the Europeans and everybody
will say 'You have to negotiate with Arafat.' Then we will have to
decide about this. Till now he has proved to be a very unreliable
partner who encouraged terrorism against us," Pazner said.
Israeli
public radio quoted a senior Israeli government official as saying
that Sharon will tell Bush when they meet on Tuesday, May 7, that
peace talks depend "on the complete cessation of terrorism and a
complete change in structure of the Palestinian Authority."
The
immediate challenge for Bush, one senior foreign policy aide said, is
to "convince the Israelis it's in their long-term interest to
deal with Arafat, no matter how reprehensible he may be,"
reported the U.S. daily newspaper, the New York Times.
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| Peace talks underway, Israeli aggressions increasing |
"Sharon's
'detailed' plan mostly outlines what the Palestinians have to do, all
of which rests on one very explicit condition: the solution needs to
be sought based on the assumption that Arafat will not be part of the
deal," the Israeli daily newspaper, Yediot Aharonoth said.
Sharon,
who has tried and failed on previous U.S. visits to orchestrate an end
to Arafat's long leadership, will tell Bush "we must neutralize
Arafat the person and distance ourselves from Arafat the phenomenon,
which is terrorism, corruption, and dictatorship," a senior
official told the Israeli daily newspaper, Maariv.
But
as a concession, Sharon will tell Bush he is ready to bring his
five-week-old West Bank military campaign to a complete halt as long
as there is no return of terror attacks against the Jewish state, the
Israeli daily newspaper, Ha’aretz said.
"During
this period, the PA will be rebuilt and its institutions revamped; its
security services will be regrouped under a single leadership and
hierarchy structure," sources in Sharon's office said, quoted by
Ha’aretz.
After
this interim period in which the Palestinian Authority is
restructured, "Israel will then agree to political negotiations
for a solution, without Arafat, but for a Palestinian state," an
official told the daily.
The
Palestinian leadership said Sharon would not succeed in convincing
Bush. "Sharon has only one plan for the region, which
is the continuation of his war against the Palestinian people. This
will lead to chaos," said information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
"The
decision for the United States is whether to give him one last chance
or whether to stop the games he is playing with our blood."
Bush
has consistently refused to meet Arafat, saying the Palestinian
president has not earned his trust yet. But the U.S. president
must show the Arabs he is willing to give a chance to Arafat, who has
publicly renounced terrorism and is now enjoying a tremendous wave of
support both on the West Bank and in the Islamic world.
"I
think it is very important for Arafat to show that he is
leading," Bush said Saturday.
Complicating
Tuesday's talks, observers say the Israeli leader will be under
intense pressure from Israel's far right not to bend to Bush's wish
for support for the creation of a Palestinian state on the West Bank.
After
his Washington trip, Sharon must appear before a May 12 central
committee meeting of his right-wing Likud party where he will face the
heat from the radical right championed by former Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.
The
main item on the Likud agenda will be to adopt a declaration ruling
out the establishment of a Palestinian state on the West Bank. "Such
a (Likud) decision will not only embarrass the prime minister, but it
could also be used as a tool on the left and right to destabilize
Sharon's coalition," Maariv reported.
But
Sharon will not be cowed by the Likud statement, which is likely to be
approved, Maariv said.
"Sharon
says (the Likud decision) will not prevent him from striving to
achieve a peace agreement, and if such an agreement is achieved, it
will be presented to the Knesset and the (Likud) central committee for
approval," the paper reported.
Meanwhile,
Israeli troops have made an incursion early Sunday into the
Palestinian town of Tulkarem in the north west of the West Bank,
witnesses said.
They
said infantry units, backed by around 20 tanks and other armored
vehicles had entered the town under cover of helicopter gunships.
Gunfire was heard, the witnesses said.
Arafat
warned of a resumption of Israeli attacks on the Palestinian
territories, in an interview broadcast Sunday on Egyptian television.
Following
the Israeli offensive against the West Bank launched in late March,
the Israelis "now say there remains new stages to operation
Defensive Shield," Arafat said in the interview from his
headquarters in Ramallah.
"We
want to rebuild our institutions that were destroyed, even though he
[Israeli Sharon] says that there are still new stages for this
war," he said.
On
April 21, Sharon announced the end of the first phase of the operation
aimed at destroying what Israel has called the "terrorist
network" in the Palestinian territories.
A
month-long Israeli siege around Arafat's headquarters was lifted on
Thursday, allowing him the freedom of movement.
The
siege was ended following a U.S.-brokered deal that allowed six
Palestinian militants wanted by Israel and besieged in the
headquarters to be imprisoned in a West Bank jail under U.S. and
British surveillance.
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