World leaders condemn Bush-Sharon agreement
By Times Online - UK
April 16th, 2004

International leaders have condemned President Bush and Ariel Sharon today for excluding the Palestinians from an agreement which would see Israel retain large swaths of the West Bank as part of any Middle East peace accord.

Mr Bush endorsed the Israeli Prime Minister's plan yesterday for a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but the closure of only four of the 140 Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The President also implicitly rejected the "right of return" to Israel of Palestinians.

Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, said that final status issues should be resolved between Israel and the Palestinians, based on relevant UN Security Council resolutions. "He strongly believes that they [the US and Israel] should refrain from taking any steps that would pre-empt the outcome of such talks," Mr Annan's spokesman said.

Javier Solana, the EU Foreign Minister, cautioned: "The EU remains committed to a negotiated agreement resulting in two viable, sovereign and independent states, Israel and Palestine, as the only way to achieve a permanent peace and an end to the occupation that began in 1967.

"Final status issues can only be resolved by mutual agreement between the parties."

Palestinian leaders, who have been excluded from negotiations, reacted with fury after the US and Israeli leaders exchanged letters of agreement at the White House.

Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, declared that no peace deal would be possible with the Israelis until the "complete end" of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Mr Arafat said: "Our destiny is to defend our land, holy sites, Jerusalem and our right to freedom, independence and the right of refugees to return to their homeland."

He also requested an emergency meeting of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the world's largest grouping of Muslim states, to discuss the change in US policy.

Malaysia, which currently holds the OIC chair, brought forward its planned meeting in the light of the request. Syed Hamid Albar, the Malaysian Foreign Minister, said: "We want to organise the meeting earlier because we now feel the urgency of the new development."

Ahmed Qureia, the Palestinian Prime Minister, who was excluded from the negotiations, said: "We as Palestinians reject that, we cannot accept that, we reject it and we refuse it."

Mr Qureia also accused the US President of an "unacceptable" violation of the US-backed "road map" peace plan, saying issues such as borders and the status of refugees must be decided in negotiations involving all sides, not just the US and Israel.

"It cannot be decided by the President of the United States what is realistic and what is not realistic … This is a real violation of the roadmap."

Tony Blair last night welcomed the agreement and urged the Palestinians to accept it. But he was urged by Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian Foreign Minster, today to tell Mr Bush to change his mind when they meet in Washington on Friday.

In Gaza today, an Israeli helicopter fired a rocket at a crowd of Palestinians during an army incursion into the refugee camp at Rafah, leaving 20 Palestinians wounded, some seriously.

The helicopter opened fired after a crowd gathered while Israeli troops were bulldozing their houses and destroying them with dynamite.

Israeli radio reported the troops were trying to destroy tunnels which run into Gaza from neighbouring Egypt, and which Israel claims are used to smuggle weapons.

Mr Sharon must now persuade his Likud Party to accept his "disengagement plan" in a vote on May 2. Some hardliners in his own party are openly hostile to the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.