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Sharon urges Palestinians to fight terror
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-05 10:20

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday that wide-ranging peace talks aimed at ending the conflict with the Palestinians will not be renewed until their leaders take real action to prevent terror attacks on Israel.

Sharon's comments appeared aimed at dampening expectations ahead of a Mideast summit scheduled for Tuesday in Egypt that Palestinians hope will revive the peace process, but Israelis want to remain focused on more limited security issues.

The summit was expected to produce a joint cease-fire declaration formally ending more than four years of bloodshed. Such a declaration is one of the first requirements of the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, which envisions the creation of a Palestinian state this year but has been stalled because of ongoing violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accused the Palestinians of doing little to combat 'terror' other than deploying troops in the Gaza Strip. [AFP/File]

As part of a package of pre-summit gestures, Israel on Thursday approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners and agreed to withdraw troops from Jericho, the first of five West Bank towns Israel is expected to leave. The decision came after Palestinian security forces fanned throughout the Gaza Strip last week to prevent militant attacks on Israeli targets.

In a telephone conversation Friday with Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, Sharon said Israel was working to bolster new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, but the Palestinians have not reciprocated, taking no substantive steps to fight terror apart from the Gaza troop deployment, according to a statement from Sharon's office.

Israeli officials have complained that Palestinian security forces have not arrested militants or tried to disrupt their weapons smuggling and weapons manufacturing networks.

On Friday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians who tried to sneak into Israel by climbing the security fence surrounding the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli army. It was unclear why they were crossing into Israeli territory.

Palestinian officials want next week's summit to restart the road map, but Sharon told Bondevik that new peace talks would be linked to tougher Palestinian action against militants.

"The prime minister stressed that getting into the road map will happen only after the Palestinians halt terrorist activity, dismantle the (terror) infrastructures and carry out governmental reforms," the statement said.

Israeli officials say they view the summit as a limited meeting focusing on security issues and efforts to stop violence. Sharon wants to carry out his plan to withdraw from Gaza this summer before opening up wide-ranging peace talks, the officials said.

The Palestinians, for their part, rejected Israel's gestures as insufficient, complaining that the planned prisoner release would only free people serving relatively short terms, not the veteran prisoners the Palestinians were seeking.

"It is not what we want. It is not what our people want," Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said Friday.

The new Palestinian leadership views the release of the 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as crucial to strengthening Abbas' domestic support as he proceeds with peace efforts.

Despite the mutual criticism, international diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, praised both sides.

Speaking after a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Rice said she would attend a March conference in London focused on reforming the Palestinian Authority and its security forces.

"I especially look forward to discussions about how we can sustain the momentum that is now developing to a resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict to get back onto the road map and to move ultimately to a two-state solution," she said in London.

European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner called the mutual gestures courageous. "Further bold actions are necessary on both sides, but a promising start has been made," she said in a statement ahead of her visit to the region Monday.

Meanwhile, Abbas held a meeting in Gaza of the PLO executive committee Friday night, the first of several sessions he was to hold before the summit.

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