The Hindu : Sharon's plan a recipe for disaster: Qurei

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 12, 2003

International

International

Sharon's plan a recipe for disaster: Qurei

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA DEC. 11. The Palestinian Prime Minister, Ahmed Qurei, has described the Israeli Premier, Ariel Sharon's emerging peace plan, which bypasses the Palestinians as negotiating partners, as a recipe for disaster.

"The conflict would continue, fires would burn, terror would increase and no one would gain. It would be a bad mistake to force a settlement on us. We will not accept it. The world will never accept it," Mr. Qurei warned while referring to Mr. Sharon's plan.

The Palestinian Prime Minister's observations during an interview appeared in the Israeli daily Maariv on Thursday.

The interview appeared a day after the head of the Israeli Parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, said Mr. Sharon had defined a "long-term redeployment" as an alternative to a peace deal with the Palestinians.

Many Palestinians fear that Mr. Sharon's ideas, if implemented, would mean the emergence of a much smaller Palestinian State, existing behind a controversial fence that the Israeli Government is now constructing.

The Palestinian leadership has condemned the raising of this wall because it intrudes and takes away a large chunk of Palestinian land. The de facto Palestinian-Israeli border runs along a 1967 "Green Line", but portions of the security fence deviate from this line and slice away the Palestinian territory.

Israeli leaders have also hinted that they would uproot some of the remote settlements that have been illegally constructed inside Palestinian territory. "If Mr. Sharon wants to remove the settlements, fine. We will not stop him from taking down Netzarim," Mr. Qurei said, referring to a settlement on the edge of Gaza City, which is difficult to protect. "(But) you cannot build a fence on our land, put us into cages like chickens and hope for the best. It will cause a disaster."

Mr. Qurei, however, said that the Palestinian side would not object to the construction of the fence provided it was built strictly along the "Green Line."

"If you want a fence, fine. Build it on the Green Line," he said and even offered to share the construction costs.

The Palestinian Prime Minister urged the Israeli side to resume negotiations, which he felt were still possible and could result in an agreement. "There has to be an immediate return to the negotiating table," he said.

Two die in blast

Amid the escalating political tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians, a bomb detonated in a money-changing booth in Tel Aviv this afternoon, killing two persons and injuring several others. However, police said that the explosion might not be the result of a Palestinian suicide bombing. The blast, instead, may have targeted an underworld figure, who eyewitnesses said, was spotted near the site of the incident.

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