Sharon defends pro-peace stance

In the face of scathing criticism from his own right-wing party, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday staunchly defended his support for the latest Middle East peace effort.

"Ruling three and a half million Palestinians cannot go on indefinitely," he declared.

Sharon back at his critics in the Likud Party with language that sounded as if it were coming straight from Israel's liberal peace camp.

"You may not like the word, but what's happening is occupation," he told Likud members of Parliament.

"Holding 3.5 million Palestinians is a bad thing for Israel, for the Palestinians and for the Israeli economy. We have to end this subject without risking our security," he said.

Sharon's Cabinet on Sunday gave conditional approval to the Middle East peace plan, known as the road map. The vote energized diplomatic efforts but also brought a firestorm of criticism from right-wing Israelis, who accused the prime minister of plunging the country into a process that they view as a potential disaster.

While Sharon debated with his traditional allies, the Israelis and Palestinians pressed ahead with preparations for top-level meetings intended to build on the current diplomatic momentum.

Sharon Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas are expected to meet again this week, probably today, diplomats said. They are expected to join US President George W. Bush for a summit meeting in the region, probably next week.

Sharon Sunday that Israel had no real option but to accept the measures outlined in the peace plan. After a stormy session, the cabinet voted 12 to seven in favor, with four abstentions.

The Cabinet also expressed Israel's numerous reservations with the plan, which could complicate efforts to put it into effect. The Palestinians say the road map must be put into effect as is, fearing that attempts to rework it will lead to long delays, and ultimately to failure.

"The road to hell is filled with good intentions," Michael Ratzon, a Likud member of Parliament, told Sharon. "This document is Israel's surrender to Palestinian terrorism."

David Levy, a Likud lawmaker and a former foreign minister, said the road map included "the worst things ever faced by the government of Israel."

"With all due respect we are talking about a cardinal matter, the existence and future of Israel," Levy added.

One Likud legislator after another lashed out at the Cabinet decision. The intense debate illustrated how difficult it will be for Israelis and Palestinians to move forward with the road map, with hard-liners on both sides seeking to undermine it.

Sharon that he was a reluctant supporter of the plan. The Palestinians -- ?not to speak of the Israeli left -- ?say they are deeply skeptical about his intentions to engage in serious negotiations.

But Sharon's impassioned language on Monday indicated that he viewed the grinding Middle East conflict as inflicting great damage on Israel. His remarks also suggested that he was prepared to take political risks and to alienate his supporters in hopes of finding a way out, even if he has serious misgivings about the plan.

"I don't know whether we'll succeed, but I'm telling you in the clearest way that I'll make every effort to reach a diplomatic arrangement because I believe that it's important for Israel," Sharon said.

"Today there are 1.8 million Palestinians fed by international organizations," he said."Would you like to take this upon yourselves? Where will we get the money?"

The peace plan -- ?backed by the US, the UN, the EU and Russia -- ?is divided into three stages. In the initial phase, the Palestinians must crack down on militants, while Israel is to withdraw its troops gradually from Palestinians areas and halt the growth of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

One Likud lawmaker, Yehiel Hazan, asked what the settlement freeze meant for Jewish families living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sharon, a leading patron of the settlement movement, appeared to brush aside that stipulation in the road map.

"There is no restriction here, and you can build for your children and grandchildren, and I hope for your great-grandchildren as well," he replied.

The plan's aim is a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement and a Palestinian state within three years.

Before Sunday's Cabinet vote, Israeli hawks saw themselves on the ascendancy.

Sharon a government loaded with right-wing ministers after Likud scored a landslide victory in elections in January. The violence has driven many Israelis to the right, and many Cabinet members are on record as opposing a Palestinian state.

With Israel's center-left Labor Party and the traditional peace camp in disarray, many experts predicted that peace negotiations were unlikely to resume.

Yet Sunday's Cabinet vote marked the first time that any Israeli government had approved the principle of a future Palestinian state.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, a prominent hawk who nonetheless voted for the plan, stressed that "we did not vote for an international agreement."

"This is not a legal document; there is no sort of commitment here," he told army radio. "Rather, this is a declaration of diplomatic intentions."

Still, the emphasis is on diplomacy for now.

Palestinian Yasser Arafat, speaking from his badly damaged compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, said that he welcomed Israel's support for the road map.

But he added that Israel's list of reservations "raises question marks about this acceptance."

In violence on Monday, two Palestinian men from Gaza managed to get past the border fence and enter southern Israel, the army said. One was shot dead, and the other surrendered. No weapons were found on either man, it said.

Also, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed in a West Bank village near the town of Qalqilya during an exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and troops, the Israeli radio reported.

Meanwhile, in a poll published on Monday in Yediot Ahronot, a leading daily, 56 percent of Israelis believe that the country should support the road map, versus 34 percent who are opposed. But when asked if the peace plan would lead to a comprehensive Middle East agreement, 51 percent thought that it would not and only 43 percent thought that it would.