Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

TEL AVIV, May 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Israel's right-wing Likud Party voted a resounding no to a Palestinian state Sunday night in brazen defiance of the U.S. declared stance on the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The vote commits Likud Ministers to block any peace initiative that could lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The hard-line stance by Likud's 2,600 person central committee was sure to damage Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ability to direct Israel's fragile national unity government, torn between right and left.

Sharon warned the crushing vote would damage Israel's vital ties with its top ally United States, which advocates the establishment of a Palestinian state.

During his latest visit to the U.S. last week, Sharon declared he did not mind an eventual establishment a “borderless Palestinian state”. He, however, made it clear the time “was not yet ripe for discussing such a step”.

"I respect all democratic decisions of the central committee, but I will continue to lead the country according to the principles that I have always held: security for Israel and aspirations for peace," Sharon declared after his party's stunning snub of his leadership, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Sharon was feeling the heat from former Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, his rival for power, who engineered Sharon's humiliation by the Likud, just as the White House started to demand Sharon move the peace process forward, Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz reported.

During the rowdy meeting, Netanyahu said that he supported an entity that allowed the Palestinians to govern themselves, but opposed granting them all of the rights that come with statehood - such as maintaining an army and acquiring weapons - because such a state would threaten Israel.

"Self rule - 'Yes'; state - 'No,'" Netanyahu said, quoted by Ha’aretz.

Sharon, a hard-line former general, first tried to head off Netanyahu's maneuver with his own motion to stop the vote. But the party rejected his motion by 59 percent.

Moving in the opposite direction to Israeli hard-line stances, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, in an interview late Sunday, May 12, with CNN, said he was ready to accept an Israeli Jewish state side by side with a Palestinian state.

"We hope that we will have this independent Palestinian state side by side with Israeli Jewish State," said Arafat, speaking in English.

Arafat said he was prepared to live in peace with Israel. Asked if he was prepared to accept the state of Israel as a Jewish state, he answered: "Yes."

Arafat said the Israeli and Palestinian people were closer than many people thought. "A part of the Jews are Palestinians, and they are represented in our legislative council.

"Till now, we don't call them Jews. Do you know what we call them? Our cousins," he added.

Meanwhile, Sunday's political bust up in Israel threatened to dash any fresh momentum for Middle East peace, and brought furious reactions from the Palestinian side.

For his part, leading Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat slammed the Likud's anti-Palestinian state landslide vote, hoping it will open the eyes of U.S. President to the kind of people he is dealing with.

"What we have seen tonight is a major and severe blow to all efforts being made to revive the peace process," Erakat told CNN International.

"How many Palestinians will wake up tomorrow and say we have nothing to lose?" asked Erakat.

"I hope this vote will be an eye opener for [U.S.] President [George W.] Bush who calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state," he said, adding that it showed "what kind of people we are dealing with in the Likud party and the Israeli government."

Erakat called on Labor, Likud's main partner in Israel's unity government, to take a stand, and hinted the left-leaning party should quit the ruling coalition.

"I think this will also be an eye opener for Shimon Peres and the Labor party who say they are in the government in order to make peace," he added.

"I believe tonight in Israel everything is unmasked. Everything is uncovered," Erakat said.

In Washington, however, the U.S. administration had no immediate official reaction to the vote, but a senior administration official pointed out that Bush repeatedly endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state, AFP reported.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out that Bush declared a strong, secure Palestinian state as an important goal of the U.S.-sponsored peace process.

"The United States is strongly committed to finding a just settlement in the Middle East. That settlement must lead to two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," Bush said in a radio address last month.

 

Jenin: World testimonies Israeli Operation Defensive Sheild Palest ine: Maps and Facts United in Bethlehem Church Carter Meets With Castro, Seeks to Urge Change on Human Rights Sweden To Protest Israeli Destruction of Bethlehem Peace Center Historic Arms Deal Between U.S., Russia Finalized 500,000 Afghan Refugees Back Home, Marines Under Attack Massive Palestinian Map For Display in UAE, Marking ‘Nakba’ For First Time In 5 Months, Arafat Tours West Bank Hotspots E.U. Foreign Ministers Delay Decision on Exiled Palestinians’ Fate  Kashmiri Women to Adopt Gujarat Orphans, Anti-Muslim Attacks Continue The U.S. Owes Us An Explanation, Says Chavez  Likud Vote “A Pity”, Palestinian State “Only Solution”, Says E.U. Presidency 80,000 Demonstrate in Italy for Palestinian State Israel’s Likud Votes ‘No to Palestinian State’ Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators In Larnaca, Athens Gujarat Victims Start Migrating To Other Parts Of India, Abroad Israel's Occupation Is "The Root Of Evil" Yesterday's News Search Articles      News Archive : Day: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31     Month: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12   Year: 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999