Posted on 02/09/2003 1:41:54 PM PST by Indy Pendance
Ariel Sharon says the new Israeli Government that he has been asked to form will end "Palestinian terrorism" and remove its "leader", Yasser Arafat.
Mr Sharon was formally invited on Sunday by Israeli President, Moshe Katsav, to begin putting together a government after winning last months election.
In another development, it has been confirmed that Mr Sharon held his first direct talks with senior Palestinians for nearly a year shortly after his election victory.
He met Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Korei, also known as Abu Ala, on Wednesday, officials on both sides have confirmed.
Mr Sharon offered an Israeli pullout from Palestinian areas where militants are being reined in by Palestinian sources, one unnamed Israeli official told the Associated Press news agency.
Israeli media said that Mr Sharon's chief of staff Dov Weisglass and the US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, took part in Wednesday's talks at the Israeli prime minister's ranch in the southern Negev desert.
The meeting lasted less than two hours and correspondents say it shows Mr Sharon is trying hard to win over the Labour party, which favours dialogue with the Palestinians to end the continuing violence.
Mr Weisglass is expected to meet Palestinian interior minister Hani-al-Hassan on Monday, according Palestinian officials quoted by AFP news agency.
Bloodshed
Since first coming to power two years ago, Mr Sharon has resolutely refused to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
On Sunday, he again accused Mr Arafat of being behind attacks on Israeli targets and called for his removal as leader.
"The new government will face difficult tasks - the war against terrorism and against its leader, the head of the Palestinian Authority," Mr Sharon said.
In the latest attack, three Palestinians targeted an Israeli army post in the southern Gaza Strip.
Their car approached a checkpoint, swerved off the road and drove towards the post.
The car hit a concrete wall protecting the post and blew up. The militant group Islamic Jihad says it carried out the attack.
The Israeli army maintains a strong presence at scene of the attack, a junction where a road bridge reserved for Jewish settlers passes over the main Palestinian road.
The main north-south road through Gaza was immediately closed while the Israeli army conducted searches making travel from north to south impossible for Palestinians.
Coalition talks
Mr Sharon's Likud party won most seats in the elections on 28 February - but it is short of an overall majority.
The prime minister has said he would prefer a national unity government with the centre-left Labour party - but Labour leader Amram Mitzna has refused to take part unless Mr Sharon agrees to begin evacuating Jewish settlements and make fundamental changes to the state budget.
Mr Sharon's other option is a coalition with right-wing and religious parties.
...dishonest liberals...
I submit that dishonest liberals is unnecessarily redundant and repetitive. There is NO SUCH THING as an honest liberal (I'm speaking of the leaders of liberals: They know the truth, but they know the truth leaves them with no constituency and no platform!) The followers of liberal doctrine are just gullible, ill-informed dupes.
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