/ 6 January 2004

Jeers, scuffles as Sharon defends settlements plan

Ariel Sharon was heckled and booed by members of his own party on Monday as he pledged to stick with his plan for a partial withdrawal from the occupied territories and the dismantling of some Jewish settlements.

At one point, the Israeli prime minister’s speech was interrupted as scuffling broke out in the Tel Aviv hall where thousands of Likud members were gathered. The raucous meeting that laid bare the rift within the ruling party created by Sharon’s announcement last month that he will unilaterally pull out of some of the West Bank and Gaza if talks with the Palestinians do not bear fruit soon.

”My disengagement plan is the best security plan. It is my plan and I will get it passed,” he said.

The angriest barracking of the prime minister came when he repeated his assertion that Israel would have to abandon some Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Some party members shouted that he was a traitor to Zionism.

Sharon also reiterated his pledge to take the step he said his predecessors ”were too afraid to take” and unilaterally withdraw from some of the occupied territories if the Palestinian leadership did not meet Israel’s demand that it ”combat terrorism” as a precondition for a negotiated settlement.

”If terror infrastructures are dismantled and if a democratic Palestinian administration is created, Israel will support the creation of an independent Palestinian state,” Sharon said above a rising chorus of anger. ”A long-term settlement will mean concessions. We must allow Palestinians a place of honour among nations and the economic stability they deserve.

”If it turns out that there is no partner on the Palestinian side, we will cut ourselves off from them both politically and physically,” he said. ”The test will be in deeds, not words. No prize will be given to terror.”

Right-wing activists tried to seize control of government policy with a motion that would require the Likud leadership to seek the approval of ordinary members for major policy initiatives, such as the unilateral withdrawal from the occupied territories. But Sharon said that, as prime minister, he had the final responsibility for decisions.

”This is my plan and I will execute it,” he said.

Palestinian officials question whether Sharon really wants a negotiating partner or just an excuse to impose his own terms for a Palestinian state. Hours earlier, the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, said he had abandoned efforts to schedule a meeting with Sharon to renew peace talks because of the latest Israeli military assault in the West Bank.

Over the past week the army has killed nine Palestinians in raids on West Bank towns, four of them teenagers. The heaviest attacks have been on Nablus, where six people died.

”I am sorry to say destruction continues, aggression continues, bombardment continues and I don’t think that in this situation that any meeting will have significant results,” Qureia said.

”We are not looking for a meeting that is a photo opportunity. We are looking for a meeting that will open a political horizon for our people in order to achieve a just solution for our people’s problems.” – Guardian Unlimited Â