Back to the road mapTHE DECISIVE rejection yesterday by Likud party members in Israel of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal to give up most Israeli presence in Gaza does not bode well for Sharon's ability to get his Cabinet or the Israeli Knesset to accept the plan. Instead of proceeding despite the rebuff from his own party, Sharon should shelve the proposal. If there is ever to be a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, it will almost certainly include the departure of the 7,500 Israeli settlers living among 1.3 million Gaza Palestinians. But that step should be part of a negotiated agreement with Palestinians, not a unilateral decision by Israel.
Palestinians have been suspicious of the proposal both because they were not included in planning it and because they feared that Sharon would at the same time strengthen Israel's hold on the West Bank, where Israel is building a defensive barrier to protect areas where Israelis live. The chances that Sharon would win his gamble of putting the issue to a non-binding referendum by the conservative party's 193,000 members were likely diminished by a cold-blooded attack yesterday in Gaza in which an Israeli mother and her four children were shot to death. Many settlers and other critics of the withdrawal said that Palestinians would interpret it as a concession to violence, much as Hezbollah had done after Israel ended its occupation of the southern part of Lebanon four years ago. Critics said Sharon was getting nothing in exchange for giving up Gaza. Sharon had hoped to undercut that criticism with his success in getting President Bush last month not only to approve the pullout but also to agree that Palestinian refugees from Israel proper have no right of return to Israeli territory and that in a two-state solution Israel would not have to give up all its settlements in the West Bank. Sharon took great satisfaction from this meeting of the minds with Bush, which was decried by Palestinians and other Arabs, but it clearly did not have much influence with Likud voters. Sharon was quick to say that he would not resign as a result of the vote, which drew fewer than 50 percent of Likud members. He said he would consult with party and government officials on his next step on the disengagement plan. His close supporters who favor the proposal said he should proceed with it and a Sharon remark yesterday -- "the people of Israel did not want me to sit for four years with my hands folded" -- indicated he likely would.
Sharon should use the Likud vote as an occasion to pause and give new life to the "road map" approach to negotiations in which Gaza and some West Bank areas would be turned over to Palestinians as part of an overall peace agreement -- with the Palestinians. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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