Associated Press, 6th October 2004

Sharon Aide Nixes Palestinian State

by Peter Enav
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Jerusalem - The significance of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip is that it puts the establishment of a Palestinian state on hold indefinitely, and does so with Washington's permission, a senior Sharon aide said in an interview published Wednesday.

The comments of Dov Weisglass, Sharon's point man with the Bush administration, constituted the most far-reaching declaration by a senior Israeli official on Sharon's policy toward the Palestinians. The remarks also appeared to contradict long-standing U.S. policy on the Middle East.

Weisglass spoke as Sharon was attempting to overcome strong opposition in his ruling Likud Party to his so-called plan of "unilateral disengagement" from the Palestinians. The plan envisions an Israeli pullout from the volatile territory by the end of 2005, including the removal of all 8,200 Jewish settlers there. Four small West Bank settlements would also be dismantled.

"The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process," Weisglass told the Haaretz newspaper. "Effectively, the whole package called the Palestinian state with all that entails has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission - all this with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress."

Sharon's office was not immediately available to comment on Weisglass's remarks. However, Sharon has said in a recent interview that Israel is no longer following the "road map," a U.S.-backed peace plan that envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.

Weisglass is Sharon's senior diplomatic adviser, and it is unlikely he would have made his comments without Sharon's approval.

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv had no immediate comment on the remarks.

The Bush administration supports the establishment of a Palestinian state. While administration officials have acknowledged that the 2005 date mentioned in the road map may be set back, they continue to stand by the goal.

In his televised debate with Sen. John Edwards Tuesday in Cleveland, Vice President Dick Cheney pointed to the Bush administration's support for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat called on the Bush administration to distance itself from Weisglass's comments.

"It's clear that Mr. Weisglass expressed the true intentions of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon," he told The Associated Press. "We hope that President Bush will answer the question now as how to make the Gaza disengagement plan part of the road map and not an alternative to it."

Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres condemned Weisglass's remarks. "You cannot stop the world from turning," he told Israel Army Radio. "We will not know tranquility and ... security until there is peace."

Weisglass said that under Sharon's plan the vast majority of Jewish settlers in the West Bank would be allowed to stay, Haaretz reported.

"Out of 240,000 settlers, 190,000 will not be moved from their place," it quoted him as saying.

The Palestinians demand the removal of all Jewish settlers to help pave the way for the establishment of a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Weisglass ascribed the creation of Sharon's disengagement plan to a desire to blunt growing domestic and international unhappiness over the static diplomatic situation in the Middle East.

"In the fall of 2003 we understood everything was stuck," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "Time was not on our side. There was international erosion, internal erosion. Domestically, in the meantime, everything was collapsing."

Weisglass said in meetings with Bush administration officials he had received full backing for Sharon's plan to freeze the peace process with the Palestinians, Haaretz reported.

"What I effectively agreed to with the Americans was that part of the settlements would not be dealt with at all, and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Finns," he was quoted as saying.

Weisglass described disengagement as a freezing agent for the diplomatic process, Haaretz reported.

"Disengagement is actually formaldehyde," he was quoted as saying. "It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians."
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Appendix

Sharon plan 'blocked peace talks', BBC News, 6th October 2004

Sharon aide nixes Palestinian state, News 14 Carolina, 6th October 2004

Aide: Gaza Plan Aims to Block Statehood, Lexington Herald-Leader, 6th October 2004