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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen and discuss implementation of the "road map" plan.
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| By Ellis Shuman May 26, 2003 |
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Following the cabinet's approval on Sunday of the "road map" initiative for Middle East peace, Israeli officials believe the "ball is now in the Palestinian court," and await signs that Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen is taking steps to combat terror infrastructure - the required first step of the plan.
"Everyone agrees that the first step must be taken by the Palestinians," a senior official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official told reporters. "Abu Mazen must now begin arresting terrorists and dismantling the terrorist organizations. Only then will we see what we (Israel) will do to make progress."
"It is not easy to get to peace," Sharon told Likud Party members at a gathering in Jerusalem Sunday night. "But we have taken the first step."
Sharon told the activists, many of them angry at their ministers' support for the "road map" plan leading to an independent Palestinian state, that he would safeguard Jerusalem and that it could take years until the Palestinians managed to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and gain a temporary state.
Sharon is expected to meet with Abu Mazen, possibly as early as tomorrow, and discuss implementation of the "road map" plan. Abu Mazen and other Palestinian officials had stated that they could not begin fighting terror and incitement and begin security coordination with Israel until the Israeli government formally endorsed the plan. By approving the "road map," a senior official said, Israel had taken away the PA's excuse for not implementing its requirement to act against terror.
Maariv reported today that Israel would be willing to accept a Palestinian hudna (temporary cease-fire) lasting a number of weeks, if Abu Mazen utilized the time to begin dismantling and disarming the terror organizations. Shin Bet security officials believe that an Israeli acceptance of a long-term hudna would give the terrorists time to reorganize themselves, the paper reported.
"It is possible to agree to a hudna of a few weeks," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said while on an official two-day visit to Turkey. "This is a required step, but Israel expects the Palestinians to fight terror and will not accept just a cease-fire. A cease-fire must be the opening stage, but not the central effort. The real effort must be a true war against terror," Mofaz said.
Palestinian Minister of State for Security Affairs Mohammed Dahlan plans to recruit former terrorists into the ranks of the Palestinian security forces and purchase their illegal weapons as part of his battle against terror, Maariv reported last week. Dahlan and Abu Mazen have no plans to stage an all-out confrontation with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the paper said.
Today Maariv reported that Dahlan presented American officials with his "security plan," but the Americans rejected it and asked for "immediate corrections." According to the paper, Dahlan's plan does not meet the basic requirements of a war against terror.
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