The United States yesterday released the long-awaited ”road map” towards a Middle East peace settlement with the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state by 2005.
The move came hours after a new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, was sworn in and made a public commitment to curb attacks on Israeli civilians.
Israel welcomed the road map’s release, even though it has thrown up objections to implementation of the three-stage plan that requires the Palestinian leadership to immediately combat ”terrorism” while the Israelis curb the expansion of Jewish settlements and ease the military crackdown on West Bank towns before taking further steps toward a two-state settlement.
President George Bush said he would seize the opportunity to advance the peace process. He said everyone must make sacrifices, including Israel.
”All parties must assume their responsibilities and that includes the nations surrounding Israel who must cut off funding for terrorism.” He said Abbas was a Palestinian leader he could work with.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said the road map ”charts a course to a lasting settlement by 2005, and that would mean a secure state of Israel alongside a viable and separate state of Palestine”.
But Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected the plan as a ploy to strip Palestinians of their land and said they would continue attacks on civilians and soldiers until Israel ends its occupation.
Although the road map is theoretically the work of the ”quartet” of international mediators — the UN, US, EU and Russia — control of its design and release has been dominated by Washington.
Bush delayed its publication three times at the request of Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and only committed himself publicly to the process under pressure from British Prime Minsiter Tony Blair in the run-up to the Iraq war.
The road map sets out target dates for the completion of ”reciprocal steps” on security, political and other issues by both sides.
”A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be achieved through an end to violence and terrorism, when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror and willing and able to build a practising democracy based on tolerance and liberty, and through Israeli’s readiness to do what is necessary for a democratic Palestinian state to be established, and a clear, unambiguous acceptance by both parties of the goal of a negotiated settlement,” it says.
But while the document lays out a structure for the two parties to work toward a settlement, it does not offer guidance on issues such as the division of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinians, and the outline of final borders. – Guardian Unlimited Â