Sharon: Israel May Cede Settlements for Peace

Sharon told the left-wing daily newspaper Ha’aretz he is willing to make concessions to bring peace to Israel, and understands his country will have to give up some regions he says are important to Israel’s heritage. He said the steps necessary to achieve peace “are painful for every Jew and for me personally.”

“Our whole history is bound up with these places: Bethlehem, Shiloh, Beit El. I know that we will have to part with some of these places,” Sharon said.

“I have decided to make every effort to reach a [peace] settlement. I feel that the rational necessity to reach a settlement is overcoming my feelings,” he continued.

The Israeli leader has been instrumental in the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, supporting their construction on territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s words come after Palestinian police on Friday turned over weapons seized from armed militant groups, one of the strongest signs of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation in months.

Sharon also told Ha’aretz the onus is on the Palestinians to achieve peace, saying they must change their leadership and fight terrorism. He said Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister-designate — whom Israel considers a moderate — may be the key to possible peace.

The incoming prime minister will meet with the Fatah Central Committee in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday evening to discuss his prospective Palestinian cabinet. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat will be present at the meeting, according to Planning Minister Nabil Sha’ath.

Sharon spokesman Ra’anan Gissin said the cabinet list could be a step in the right direction.

“If it will be a real functioning government where Arafat is no longer the authority over the disbursement of funds and financial resources and no longer gives orders to the security forces, I think that will be a positive development,” he said.

Sunday’s Palestinian cabinet meeting and Sharon’s comments on ceding settlements come as Israeli chief of staff Dov Weisglass travels to Washington to discuss Israel’s reservations about a proposed “road map” to peace.

The “road map” calls for an end to Palestinian violence, an end to Jewish construction of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

Sharon says his government has 15 reservations about the “road map” that Weisglass intends to discuss with Bush administration officials. One such reservation is the Palestinian demand that refugees are allowed to return to their homes in territory now part of Israel.

In presenting a list of 15 demands to the Bush administration, Weisglass is expected to include a provision that Palestinian violence end before any settlement freeze is introduced.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said Israel’s objections to the road map are meant to “sabotage” the peace plan. “It’s another way for the Israeli government to say it is rejecting the road map,” he said.

Erekat also said Sharon’s remarks appeared to be “public relations tactics,” telling Reuters that Palestinians want to see actions, not words.

The Palestinians have accepted the peace plan without reservation.

Israel’s right-wing leaders, who firmly oppose the “road map,” immediately blasted Sharon’s comments to Ha’aretz. Rightist National Union party leader Avigdor Lieberman commented the United States is using it to pacify the Muslim world.

“The last thing I want is for everyone to try to solve his own electoral problems or warm up relations with the Arab world at our expense. My impression is that the Americans to a large extent, as well as the Europeans, are using us as the coin to settle their debits in the Muslim world.”