OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, April 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israel and
the United States locked horns Tuesday, April1, over the implementation
of the U.S.-backed "roadmap" plan, with Washington saying it
will publish the peace plan despite Israeli demands that changes be
made.
After
a meeting with U.S. President George Bush, Israeli Foreign Minister
Silvan Shalom claimed that the Palestinians had to fight
"terrorism" before any implementation of the peace plan,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
But
Bush, facing a tougher than expected campaign in Iraq and with mounting
tension in the Arab world, insisted he was "serious" about
pushing ahead with the step-by-step plan envisaging the establishment of
a Palestinian state, Israeli public radio said.
Palestinian
officials have complained at the repeated delays in finalizing the
much-debated plan, unfavorably comparing the speed with which the United
States and Britain went to war against Iraq and the apparent
foot-dragging on the peace plan.
Shalom
was reiterating the constant argument by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon that the Jewish state will not "negotiate under fire."
"I
said clearly there cannot be two parallel paths: the war against
terrorism in the day and negotiations at night," Shalom told the
radio from Washington.
"The
end of terrorism constitutes the central question for a return to
negotiations with the Palestinians," he claimed.
Shalom,
who was making his first visit to Washington since being named foreign
minister last month, met Bush late Monday, March 31.
Bush
had dropped in while Shalom was meeting U.S. National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Objections
 |
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"Shalom
is challenging the White House and creating the basis for a
continuing rejection of the roadmap," charged Erekat
|
The
roadmap is a plan setting out the steps to Palestinian statehood by the
year 2005.
Based
on a Bush speech on the Middle East last June, it was drafted by the
U.S., U.N., E.U. and Russian diplomats, but Israel has raised hundred
objections.
Sharon's
advisor Dov Weisglass said he would like a U.S. mechanism to judge when
the conditions have been met to move from phase to phase, sidelining the
United Nations and European Union, with whom Israel has cool relations.
Israel
has reportedly proposed 100 changes to the roadmap and convinced the
United States to delay its publication, despite European objections,
until after the January 28 Israeli general elections.
It
has since been further delayed until new Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas forms his own cabinet, a key demand by the United States
before proceeding with the establishment of an envisaged Palestinian
state.
But
Israeli public radio quoted sources in Washington as saying that the
U.S. administration did not intend to make any changes to the roadmap
and that it would be published "as it was".
Double
Standards
In
the first Palestinian Authority reaction to Shalom's statements,
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of stalling the
internationally drafted peace plan to continue its aggressions against
Palestinians.
"Israel
is working to thwart any efforts to try to bring the peace process back
on track. Shalom is challenging the White House and creating the basis
for a continuing rejection of the roadmap," he said.
"Israel
talks in English of peace but gives orders in Hebrew to attack,"
underlined the Palestinian official.
Erekat
also had tough words on a U.S. State Department report on human rights,
which accused the Palestinians of serious rights violations while saying
the Israelis had some problems with their large Arab minority.
"There
is no talk of the highest kind of terrorism, which is occupation,
controlling people under the threat of weapons. What we are facing under
Israeli occupation after 35 years is the highest kind of terrorism and
violation of human rights. The reports doesn't mention these
things," he said.
The
State Department's annual rights report accused members of the
Palestinian security forces and Fatah faction of the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) took part in anti-Israel violence.
More
Demolitions
In
another yet related development, the Israeli occupation forces destroyed
the West Bank house of a resistance fighter and another one allegedly
linked to jailed Fatah deputy Marwan Barghuti, officials said.
"The
destruction of terrorists houses constitutes a message to the terrorists
and their accomplices that all those involved will pay for their
acts," claimed the Israeli army spokesman.
The
Israelis also destroyed the house of Nasser Abu Hmeid, jailed by Israel
on charges of attacks in the name of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an
armed offshoot of Fatah.
Israel
accuses him of being an associate of Barghuti, the Fatah West Bank
leader who is allegedly facing charges of terrorism and heading the
Al-Aqsa group.
Another
30 Palestinians wanted by Israel were abducted overnight in sweeps of
the West Bank, reoccupied by the occupation forces since last June,
officials said.
The
Israeli army has destroyed some 200 houses belonging to resistance
fighters in a bid to discourage further attacks.
Rights
groups have attacked the Israeli policy for also punishing the
fighters’ families who are often left destitute after losing their
homes.
