Israel Gives Arafat Reform Ultimatum

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, delivered a stark ultimatum to Palestinians last night, demanding that they dismantle the apparatus of terrorism within "a few months" or face a "disengagement plan" that would redraw the de facto borders of Israel.

He told a security conference in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, that unless there was a transformation of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority Israel would take "unilateral steps" in its own interests.

The "new security lines" would result in dismantling some Israeli settlements on the West Bank but "the Palestinians will receive much less than they would have received through direct negotiations".

Mr Sharon embraced the concept of the American-sponsored "road map" peace plan but said Israel would step outside it if the Palestinians failed to act. "We will not wait for them indefinitely."

Few in the Israeli government believe the Palestinian leadership has any intention of acting to stop terrorism.

The prime minister blasted peace plans such as the Geneva Accord, drawn up by Left-wing Israeli former ministers and elements of the Palestinian Authority, as initiatives that "deceive the public and create false hope".

Mr Sharon was deliberately vague about timeframes and specific actions. He said he would speed up construction of the security barrier but did not say if the barrier would dictate the "security lines".

The White House was faxed a copy of Mr Sharon's speech several hours before he delivered it. American officials were anxious to prevent any actions by Israel that could be seen as undermining the peace plan.

But although Mr Sharon stressed the need to avoid harming "our strategic co-operation with the United States", his speech meant Israel may set the peace plan aside in the months before next November's presidential election.

Palestinian officials accused him of scheming to make a viable Palestinian state impossible. It had been widely expected that Mr Sharon would announce the immediate dismantling of some illegal settlement outposts but he failed to do that.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said any unilateral actions by Israel were doomed to failure. "This approach may make peace between Israelis and Israelis but it will not make peace with Palestinians," he said.

Sharon: act now or we go it alone

Israeli PM threatens 'separation plan'

Ewen MacAskill and Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv and Julian Borger in Washington
Friday December 19, 2003
The Guardian (UK)

The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, opened a dangerous new phase in the Middle East conflict last night when he delivered an ultimatum to the Palestinians to act against terrorists or he will embark on a "unilateral separation" plan within months.

Mr Sharon said: "If there is no progress toward peace in a matter of months, then Israel will initiate the unilateral security step to disengage from the Palestinians."

The prime minister, who described it as a "disengagement plan", would order the closure of some of the illegal Jewish settlements in the Palestinian West Bank or Gaza. But he would consolidate Israel's hold on the biggest remaining settlements, and increase their fortification and redeploy troops to offer further protection. The Palestinians would end up with a shrunken state, criss-crossed by heavily protected Jewish settlements.

The prospect of Mr Sharon going his own way was denounced last night by the Palestinians, who would be the losers in such a move.

The US government, Israel's strongest ally, said it would oppose any unilateral Israeli steps and urged Mr Sharon to meet with his Palestinian counterpart "very soon" for peace talks. The US has said repeatedly the only way to peace is through a negotiated settlement. "The United States believes that a settlement must be negotiated and we would oppose any effort - any Israeli effort - to impose a settlement," the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said yesterday.

But he pointed out that some unilateral steps could help the road map, such as an Israeli decision to remove unauthorised outposts and isolated settlements.

The British government is also dismayed about the development.

Although Mr Sharon insisted last night that the move would not mean a redrawing of the borders in Israel's favour, one of Britain's biggest worries is that the wall separating Israel from the West Bank - and which has eaten into big chunks of Palestinian land - would become increasingly an accepted fact.

The impact of Mr Sharon's action would be to create an Israel protected behind its wall and a series of heavily fortified settlements in the West Bank.

Asked by CNN what he would do if Israel started unilateral moves, the Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said: "With this unilateral approach, they may make peace with Israelis; they'll not make peace with Palestinians."

The Palestinians and Israelis each blame the other for the failure of the road map - the peace plan drawn up by the US, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, described the unilateral plan as "worthless" and said its campaign of violence would continue.

Speaking at a conference on Israeli security at Herzliya, Mr Sharon told the Palestinians that, in order to implement the road map, they would have to "uproot terrorist groups" such as Hamas.

He said: "I attach supreme importance to taking all steps which will enable progress toward resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians. However, in light of the other challenges we are faced with, if the Palestinians do not make a similar effort toward a solution of the conflict, I do not intend to wait for them indefinitely."

Yosef Lapid, Israel's justice minister, said that the unilateral steps should take place if after three months "the Palestinians do not do what is necessary, including dismantling the terrorist organisations".

A source in the Palestine Liberation Organisation said Mr Sharon's speech was a predictable extension of his policy to enclose Palestinian areas by barriers. "Of course he is going to evacuate settlements, but only the ones that remain outside the wall," he said.

Mr Sharon will face huge internal difficulties from the right of his own Likud party, who will oppose the handing over of even a few settlements.

It could be intelligent.

Yassir Arafat has never declared an independent state, though he has threatened in the past.

Why not? Seems to be the first step for any liberation movement, and that would put the Israelis on the spot to respond.

The "why" is Arafat would have to declare his borders. Either West Bank, which the Israelis might say yes to, or the whole of the region, which they will say no.

He doesn't want just the West Bank, and the "international forces" as he calls them won't give him any more money - they pay for war.

A major part of the overwhelming success of Palestinian propaganda has been to dissuade Westerners from understanding that the ultimate desire is to destroy Israel. Part of the "what they say in English, and what they say in Arabic" strategy.

Recall that the previous Israeli prime minister threatened unilateral withdrawal. Would any liberation movement in the world not urge the prime minister to act on it? Only not the PLO because, in reality, the West Bank and Gaza is not there ultimate agenda. And if they were to accept it, even temporarily, most of the people would put away jihad and accept the state and live their lives. Checkmate, Arafat and jihadists lose.

They will deploy irrational Western lefties to frame a unilateral withdrawal as racist and such, as they usually do, but it will diminish.

Really, the "Palestinians" should just throw in their lot with the "Jordanians" and create a tenable state.

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