| Ariel Sharon's plan is taking shape Flying out on a working visit to Washington on Monday night, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unveiled some details of his plan for unilateral separation from the Palestinians. So, in exchange for the withdrawal of troops and the liquidation of settlements in the Gaza Strip, Israel will retain control over five enclaves in Judea and Samaria (Ariel, Givat Ze'ev, Maale Adumim, Gush Etzion and Kiryat Arba), as well as three Jewish neighborhoods in Hebron . "This will be a fatal blow to terror," Sharon said. “When the leaders of the autonomy see that their hopes for a forceful solution to the conflict have failed, they will be forced to engage in the fight against terror in the territories under their control.”
Having made this statement on the eve of his visit to the United States and meeting with George Bush, Sharon clearly played ahead of the curve. On Monday, Bush and Egyptian President Mubarak, at a press conference following the US-Egyptian negotiations, approved the Israeli prime minister's intentions. But they meant only that part of the plan regarding the exit from Gaza. By linking the withdrawal from Gaza to the preservation of large settlements in Judea and Samaria, Sharon hopes to “kill two birds with one stone” by forcing Bush to either withdraw support for the plan as a whole or accept it in a revised form.
If the negotiations in Washington are successful, Sharon could influence the participants in the internal party referendum of the ruling Likud party, which will soon have to make a final decision on the fate of the plan. The preservation of the five settlement blocs will be greeted with enthusiasm by Likud members, which may balance out the loss of Gaza in their eyes. The Likud election committee specially moved the date of the referendum yesterday from April 29 to May 2. The fact is that on April 29 the so-called final four in basketball, which could result in low turnout. More than half of the 200,000 registered Likud activists are expected to support Sharon's program.
The Palestinian reaction was predictably negative. “Sharon is killing the peace process,” Prime Minister Ahmed Krea said yesterday. “We will not agree with any decision if it is made bypassing the Palestinian side.” But if Sharon's plan is approved in its entirety in Washington, the Palestinians will face a stark choice: accept the plan or be the main culprit in derailing the peace process. The final word now belongs to George Bush. Mikhail BOLOTOVSKY, Tel Aviv |
|
