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Sharon, Abbas back U.S. road map for peace

By Atul Aneja

A BIG HAND FOR PEACE: The U.S. President, George W. Bush, looks on as the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas (second from left), his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, and the Jordanian King, Abdullah II, greet each other in Aqaba, Jordan, on Wednesday. — AFP

AQABA (Jordan) June 4. In a landmark summit, Israelis and Palestinians, under the stewardship of the United States, have decided after a three-year interruption, to shed violence and revive their stalled peace process.

Even cynics, who have witnessed the hopes and failures of earlier Israeli-Palestinian engagements, felt that the revived initiative might work. Not only did the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, declare their political support for the peace road map, whose principal author has been the U.S., they went far ahead to address each other's core concerns.

Mr. Abbas directly addressed Israel's anxieties about the security of its citizens who had been the victims of Palestinian suicide attacks and other forms of terror. "We repeat our denunciation and renunciation of terrorism and violence against Israelis wherever they might be," he said in a statement read out at the end of the summit.

Mr. Abbas further announced his intent to end the `Intifada' (armed uprising) against the Israelis. There was "no military solution to our conflict" and resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands must now acquire a non-violent form.

Signalling that the Palestinian groups would be disarmed, a major Israeli concern, Mr. Abbas declared "we will exert our full efforts using all our resources to end the militarisation of the Intifada and we will succeed". Only designated law upholding authorities would be allowed to possess weapons. In a signal to other countries that have been funding extremist Palestinian groups, Mr. Abbas urged all states fighting terrorism to block "financial and military assistance" to such organisations.

On his part, Mr. Sharon went to considerable length to accommodate Palestinian concerns. Palestinians have been demanding that the Israelis pull out Jewish settlements from the Palestinian administered areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These settlements had segmented Palestinian land, making the realisation of an independent state in this area unviable. The Palestinians have also been asking the Israeli leadership to unequivocally accept the concept of an independent Palestinian State.

Aware of Palestinian sensitivities, Mr. Sharon declared Israel's "strong support" for the U.S. President, George W. Bush's vision of "two states — Israel and Palestinian State — living side by side in peace and security." "Unauthorised outposts" of settlers, which were usually on the fringes of bigger and permanent settlements, would be dismantled.

But more significantly, he reassured his "Palestinian partners" that the Israeli side understood the importance of "territorial contiguity for a viable Palestinian state."

By making this remark, Mr. Sharon, analysts say, had signalled his intent to dismantle at least some of the controversial settler colonies situated in considerable depth, mainly inside the Palestinian West Bank area. He also indicated his intention to ease the hardship of Palestinian people brought about by frequent armed blockades and Israeli military incursions into Palestinian territories.

Diplomatic sources here said that Mr. Bush's personal commitment to the peace process that was unrolled today was likely to dissuade it from getting derailed. The U.S. side had already positioned a "monitoring mechanism" that would help encourage the Palestinian and Israeli leaders to fulfil their pledges.

Mr. Bush declared that he had assigned his National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to monitor and coordinate implementation of the "road map." He appointed John Wolf, a State Department official, as his chief envoy to supervise the nitty gritty and give direction to the monitoring group likely to be positioned inside the Palestinian territories soon.

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