'Settlements Not an Issue on Horizon' Says Sharon

13/05/2003| IslamWeb

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a published interview that dismantling Jewish settlements on land Palestinians seek for a state under a U.S.-backed peace plan is "not an issue on the horizon." The "road map" plan calls for Israel to stop expanding settlements in the West Bank and Gaza as part of a series of confidence-building steps under which Palestinians would crack down on Palestinian intifada. Sharon told the Jerusalem Post newspaper that all Israeli governments had pursued settlements in some form in the past even during periods of peace diplomacy. "But in my 'mind' this is not an issue on the horizon right now," he said. Secretary of State Colin Powell held talks with both sides at the weekend to coax them to start implementing conciliatory measures under the road map, but won no concrete action on key issues such as curbing violence and settlements. Sharon, whose right-wing coalition opposes scrapping settlements or granting Palestinians a state by 2005 as the road map envisages, will meet President Bush at the White House on May 20 to discuss objections to the plan. **PHOTO CAPTION*** A boy plays near the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam's most holy sites, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Monday, May 12, 2003. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)