Jordan Times
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
King Abdullah calls for
implementation of Roadmap
Sharon sets date for Knesset vote on
Gaza pullout
Agencies
His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday called on Israel and the Palestinians to
implement the Middle East peace roadmap, warning that violence threatens
Palestinian statehood, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
“Israel and the Palestinians must implement the
roadmap,” an internationally-backed peace blueprint stipulating the
establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of 2005, Petra quoted King
Abdullah as saying.
The King told Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa at a meeting in Amman that
the increase in violence threatens the creation of an independent Palestinian
state.
King Abdullah also called on the Palestinians “to step up their efforts in order
to achieve agreement amongst themselves... that will enable them to become
active partners in the peace process.”
`Knesset vote on 25th'
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon moved Monday to accelerate his
plan to pullout of the Gaza Strip by announcing that a parliamentary vote on the
controversial project would take place in two weeks.
“I am going to submit my plan for debate and a vote in the Knesset in two weeks
only, on October 25,” Agence-France-Presse quoted Sharon as telling MPs on the
opening day of the winter session of parliament.
The announcement means MPs will give their verdict on his so-called
disengagement plan just a day after a Cabinet vote. Sharon had previously
indicated he would put the issue to a vote in the 120-seat parliament on Nov. 3.
The move represents a significant gamble by Sharon who lacks a majority in
parliament after traditional allies quit or were sacked from the coalition in
June.
Sharon's plan, which has been enthusiastically endorsed by Washington, will see
Israel pull all its troops and the 8,000 Jewish settlers living in Gaza out of
the territory next year. It also envisages a strengthening of control over
larger West Bank settlements.
In his address to parliament, Sharon also pledged his support for the
floundering Middle East roadmap peace plan.
“We are still committed towards the roadmap,” Sharon said as he also urged the
Palestinians to “renounce terrorism.”
His comments come after one of his senior advisers said last week that the Gaza
plan was a deliberate attempt to undermine the roadmap's promise of Palestinian
statehood next year.
But Sharon also ruled out any prospect of an immediate resumption in
negotiations with the Palestinian leadership, which have been frozen for more
than a year.
“As long as the Palestinians distance themselves from their responsibilities ...
there will be no advance in political negotiations,” he said. “Negotiations will
be renewed when the Palestinian meet their previous commitments.”
Sharon has snubbed all contact with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and has
also refused to meet with Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia after accusing him of
lacking both the will and ability to rein in resistance groups who continue to
carry out anti-Israeli attacks.
The roadmap obliges the Palestinian Authority to crack down on armed factions
such as Hamas but the Palestinians have also accused Israel of flouting the
blueprint, which both sides endorsed last year, by sanctioning continuing
settlement activity.
“Israel is working on its own initiative to make a positive change. The policy
of my government is that there will be no advance politically without the
destruction of terror,” said Sharon.
In order for the disengagement plan to win a parliamentary majority, the
moderate opposition Labour Party will have to either vote in its favour or at
least abstain.
However Labour leader Shimon Peres, widely tipped to become foreign minister if
Sharon invites his party into a new ruling coalition, made clear that Sharon
could not take anything for granted.
“I know Israel is going through difficult days. I heard the prime minister's
words about the disengagement plan — they would have been easier to hear if I
hadn't heard things said in his name a few days earlier which raised great
doubts” about his intentions, he said in reference to the comments by Sharon's
adviser Dov Weisglass.
“This government gives the impression it is trying to flee from peace rather
than make peace.”
The Palestinian Authority was unimpressed by Sharon's declarations, saying that
Israel was in blatant defiance of the roadmap.
“These declarations amount to nothing new. He is continuing to shy away from the
roadmap and to fool the world,” Arafat's top adviser, Nabil Abu Rudeina, told
AFP.
Negotiations minister, Saeb Erekat, urged Sharon “to follow his words with
action.”
“What Israel is doing on the ground is contrary to the roadmap and is an act of
sabotage,” he added.