OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, February 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israel
is planning to propose more than 100 amendments to the
"roadmap" peace plan drafted by the quartet committee, the
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Thursday, February 20.
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed in principle several months ago to
the document, which calls for the creation of Palestinian state by
2005, but said he would propose some changes.
The
quartet members -- the E.U., Russia, U.N. and U.S. -- have not yet
agreed on a definitive document, with the Palestinians supporting a
European draft and Israel favoring Washington's, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
Sharon
had reportedly been lobbying his U.S. allies lately to scrap the
roadmap altogether.
But
Haaretz said Thursday that Sharon had now drawn up a list of more than
100 amendments to the document which he will run by his cabinet before
submitting them to Washington.
Sharon
wants the prerogatives of the future Palestinian prime minister to be
detailed and a constitution to be adopted before reaching any deal on
the creation of a Palestinian state, the newspaper said.
Palestinian
refugees should waive their right of return, and Palestinian
sovereignty should be limited during the transitional period leading
to the creation of a state, the premier reportedly demanded.
The
future state will be demilitarized, its borders and airspace will be
controlled by Israel and it will be not be allowed to sign treaties
with countries hostile to Israel, Haaretz said, quoting more of
Sharon's conditions.
The
Israeli document says Palestine would only be allowed to maintain a
police force and domestic security forces, armed with light weapons.
It
argues that at first, all the demands are on the Palestinian side,
beginning with a cease-fire, leadership change, and comprehensive
reforms, followed by Israel's steps.
The
Israeli document erases the demand in the road map that Israel's
leadership announce an "end to violence and incitement"
against the Palestinians.
It
also erases any mention of the Saudi Arabian peace initiative from the
introduction, which names the Saudi initiative as one of the sources
of authority, with equal status to Security Council resolutions and
the interim agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.
Palestinians
Hit Back
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Israels
"believe that they can take advantage of the possible war
against Iraq.…to escalate their war against the Palestinian
people," Abd Rabbu charged
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The quartet committee is to issue a joint statement Thursday to
reaffirm their commitment to the road map towards, Palestinian
Information and Culture Minister Yasser Abd Rabbu announced.
"There
will be an important declaration in the four capitals of the quartet
concerning the road map," he said.
"We
hope it will be a positive one, and that it will confirm the
commitment of the four parties to the road map as it is, without any
changes and without yielding to the pressure and conditions that are
being put by the Israeli government," he stressed.
Abd
Rabbu spoke to reporters after a two-day meeting at Lancaster House,
London's main diplomatic conference venue, of the quartet's Task Force
on Palestinian Reform.
A
U.N. source in London confirmed that a statement would be issued by
all four members of the quartet, so as to underscore the importance of
its contents.
On
the Haaretz report, Abd Rabbu accused "extremists" within
the Israeli government of stalling for time.
"They
want to prolong the situation as it is of today," he said.
"They
want the present conditions to continue, and maybe they want and they
believe that they can take advantage of the possible war against Iraq
in the coming few weeks in order to escalate more and more their war
against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority," he
said.
And
top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said "Israel's blow to the
roadmap is intended to kill it," while reiterating the PA's
commitment to the document.
"This
shows that the future government will continue to freeze the peace
process," he charged, referring to the cabinet to be formed by
Sharon following his victory in last month's elections.
Reacting
to the Haaretz report, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Cabinet
Secretary General Tayeb Abdelrahim warned that "anything that
hampers going back to the peace process which we agreed on (and)
postponing the roadmap (implementation) will endanger the region's
security and stability."
He
was referring to the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Arafat's PLO and
Israel that led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority and which
has been left in tatters because of incessant Israeli aggression on
the Palestinian self-rule areas.
Abdelrahim
said a Palestinian state should be established in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, seized by Israel after the 1967 war, and that refugees
should be given the choice to return to their homes or be compensated
in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
He
accused Israel's right-wing parties of wanting to "bring about a
new chapter which will not support peace and current agreements."
