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Sharon sets peace "test" for Palestinians
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-19 09:52
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, setting a test for a new Palestinian
leadership, said it could show its desire for peace by ending incitement against
Israel even before any crackdown on militants.
In what appeared to be softening of terms for renewing talks with the
Palestinians, Sharon told members of his Likud party late on Thursday that
anti-Israeli propaganda in Palestinian schools and media was as dangerous as
Palestinian weapons.
"I don't intend to waste time and my plan is to find any way, when the new
Palestinian leadership is ready to open talks, to begin to advance our relations
with the Palestinians," Sharon said.
"How will the Palestinian leadership be tested? We must not waive our demands
on collecting weapons and dismantling terrorist organizations, but it's clear
that this is a more complicated process," he said.
"In contrast, there are two demands that are in the new leadership's control,
which they must implement immediately," Sharon added, citing an end to "constant
poisonous incitement and propaganda" in the Palestinian media and educational
system.
Israeli analysts called Sharon's comments a departure from his long-standing
condition that the Palestinian Authority must first dismantle militant groups,
as a U.S.-backed peace "road map" demands, before violence-stalled peacemaking
can resume.
There was no immediate Palestinian comment on Sharon's remarks.
Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to crack
down on armed groups to smooth the way to a Jan. 9 presidential election for a
successor to Yasser Arafat, who died of an undisclosed illness on Nov. 11.
Sharon addressed his party ahead of a planned visit to the West Bank and
Israel by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who announced his resignation on
Monday.
U.S. President George W. Bush has said the death of Arafat opened new
opportunities for Middle East peace.
In Gaza on Thursday, senior leaders of Arafat's Fatah group urged members of
the Palestinian security forces who have been moonlighting as militants to cut
ties with the Islamic groups.
Dozens of Palestinian police and intelligence officers are suspected to be
working undercover as militants, most aligning with the Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades and some working with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
"The Fatah Central Committee urged the government to speed the implementation
of the decision to return members of the security agencies to their units," said
senior leader Tayeb Abdel-Rahim.
Hundreds of Israelis have been killed in attacks and suicide bombings by
Palestinian militants. Israeli troops have often killed Palestinian security
officers moonlighting as gunmen.
Chaos has increased in the Palestinian territories, marked by the kidnapping
of security officials and street battles between rival factions. Abbas himself
narrowly escaped injury in a gunfight on Sunday between his bodyguards and
militants.
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