Sharon, Abbas Agree to Take Initial Steps Toward Peace

AQABA, Jordan -- President Bush ended his first Mideast summit Wednesday by coaxing Israeli and Palestinian leaders into taking new, small steps along what he hopes will become a road to peace.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed to dismantle some settlement outposts, built since March 2001 in the West Bank, and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas pledged “full efforts” to end 32 months of violence against Israel.

“The Holy Land must be shared between the state of Palestine and the state of Israel, living in peace with one another and with every nation of the Middle East,” the president said at the summit’s closing ceremony.

“The journey we’re taking is difficult, but there is no other choice. No leader of conscience can accept more months and years of humiliation, killing and mourning,” Bush said.

“If all sides can fulfill their obligations, I know that peace can finally come.”

The agreement followed about five hours of mediation by Bush at a royal palace overlooking this scenic Red Sea port. In statements after the talks, Bush said implementing the “road map,” designed by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, is now a “matter of the highest priority.”

Despite the glowing words, questions continued over whether the sides would be able to take concrete steps toward peace, and whether each side would consider the other’s gestures adequate.

The Palestinians pledged to end what Israel calls terrorist attacks, but within minutes of the leaders’ remarks, two militant Islamic movements, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said they would not disarm.

“We will never be ready to lay down arms until the liberation of the last centimeter of the land of Palestine,” Hamas spokesman Abdulaziz Rantisi said in the Gaza Strip.

The groups, however, did not rule out discussing security issues with Abbas.

Sharon’s immediate pledge to dismantle about a dozen settlement outposts brought sharp protests from Israel’s settler movement. Tens of thousands took to the streets in Jerusalem to protest Sharon’s promise.

“On the back of Israel, [Bush] is giving a big prize to terrorists,” said Eli Cohen, a Likud lawmaker. “They get a state for what? All the terrorists around the world are smiling, saying, ‘Oh, it works.’ ”

Sharon’s vow will have no impact on the approximately 150 settlements built in the West Bank and Gaza with the blessing and financial backing of the Israeli government. Their fate will be discussed later in the peace process.

Sharon’s pledge involves about 70 outposts established in the past two years. They are usually trailers or makeshift buildings on hilltops near the settlements and are considered “unauthorized” by the Israeli government. The Israeli leader did not say how many of them would be closed, although Israeli press reports said the government would begin with about a dozen.

There is concern that some ultranationalists might resist any evacuation with violence.

Amid a rise in threats against Sharon, security has reportedly been tightened. An ultranationalist in 1995 assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the Oslo peace accords.

American presidents including Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Clinton have all pushed peace plans. The most famous was the 1993 Oslo accords that gave Palestinians full or partial autonomy over large portions of the West Bank and Gaza, captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War. But disagreements and continuing violence have prevented any final settlement of key issues, such as the settlements or the role of Jerusalem .

By agreeing to dismantle the outposts, Sharon took a first step, but enough of a step to anger his supporters, raising questions as to whether he could go further.

The U.S. is prepared to help, Bush said. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice will begin working closely with the parties to achieve “true peace as quickly as possible,” Bush said. The United States will also soon put a coordinating committee, led by veteran U.S. diplomat and arms expert John Wolf, in the region to monitor the situation.

The Aqaba summit was Bush’s first major foray into trying to bring peace to the Middle East, and he seemed to relish the challenge.

Bush first met separately with Abbas, then Sharon, and finally the three talked together. The Palestinian and Israeli leaders did not shake hands when they entered the talks but did after the three leaders and their host, King Abdullah II of Jordan, read final statements to assembled delegations.

Bush said observers should not read any significance into the initial failure to clasp hands -- “How do you shake hands with three people?” he told reporters later.

Abbas, in power only five weeks, said his new government accepts “without reservation” the peace plan unveiled April 29, the day his selection was confirmed by the Palestinian legislature.

Addressing the foremost concern of Israel -- and the country’s precondition for discussing creation of a provisional Palestinian state by year’s end -- he pledged to “act vigorously” to quell “incitement, violence and hatred, whatever their form or forum may be.”

Abbas, who was also a top negotiator with Israel in the 1990s, said the Palestinian Authority will take steps “firmly and without compromise” to prove it is a full partner in the international war on terrorism.

“The armed intifada must end, and we must use and resort to peaceful means in our quest to end the occupation and suffering of Palestinians and Israelis,” he said, speaking in Arabic. “We will exert all our efforts, using all our resources to end the militarization of the intifada -- and we will succeed.”

The Palestinian leader said he was determined to ensure that weapons were only in the hands of recognized security forces. He appealed to Arab allies and other parties to end financial and military aid to the two Islamic extremist groups and three militias largely responsible for sporadic attacks and suicide bombings that have killed nearly 800 Israelis since September 2000.

“Our national future is at stake, and no one will be allowed to jeopardize it,” he said. More than 2,300 Palestinians have died in the same period.

Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, also promised to implement the peace plan “firmly and without compromise.”

Israel had pressed for the Palestinians to also recognize Israel as a Jewish state, but Abbas balked at going that far at this stage. In a U.S.-brokered compromise, however, he did say that the Palestinians “do not ignore” Jewish suffering throughout history. “It is time to bring all this suffering to an end.”

Abbas also called on Israel to take steps to allow the Palestinians, under a tightened occupation during the intifada, to go back to school and work, move outside their towns and “not be afraid for their lives, property or livelihood.”

In his statement, Sharon said the plan represents the “hope of a new opportunity” for peace. He also said Israel recognized that it is not in its interest to govern the Palestinians, but for them to govern their own state.

“A democratic Palestinian state, fully at peace with Israel, will promote the long-term security and well-being of Israel as a Jewish state,” he told the delegations.

Sharon also bluntly warned the Palestinians that the peace plan would be endangered if Abbas did not deal effectively and quickly with attacks on Israeli targets.

Sharon then announced that Israel would dismantle its outposts.

“I want to reiterate that Israel is a society governed by the rule of law. Thus we will begin immediately to evacuate unauthorized outposts,” he said.

In his closing remarks at the summit, Bush called Sharon’s moves “meaningful signs of respect” for Palestinian rights. He also said settlements “must be addressed” for peace to be achieved.

Speaking to reporters later as he flew from Jordan aboard Air Force One, Bush said the significance of the meetings in Aqaba went beyond the formalities. The two prime ministers, he said, are growing more confident in each other.

“The fact that [Sharon] showed up meant that he believed Prime Minister Abbas can deliver,” Bush said. “And therefore, we’ve got to work together to help [Abbas] achieve his stated objectives.”

In one of several potential glitches in the process, Sharon’s spokesman told reporters traveling with the president that Israel still intends to present a case during eventual negotiations to keep settlements for both security and historical reasons.

Sharon did say that Israel understands the importance of “contiguity” of the landmass for a Palestinian state. The United States has repeatedly said the West Bank cannot be so cut up into pieces by Israeli settlements that a new state would not be viable.

In another major, serious difference, the right-wing Israeli government apparently believes the Palestinian territory can be joined by bridges and tunnels rather than by removing settlements so land could be contiguous.

Based on “bitter experience,” Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin said, there will be a “need to build tunnels and bridges to ensure when we live together there will be no friction,” possibly for decades. “A political solution is a long process. It doesn’t happen in one generation,” he said.

After the joint statements, Powell defined a contiguous state as one “both sides accept and that is viable. It can have an economy, people can move back and forth freely.” Rice added that Israel’s commitment to the principle was the important point and that the idea of the contiguous state would be among the issues for the three-phase peace plan designed to produce a final settlement by the end of 2005.

“But we have hard negotiations ahead, obviously,” she said.

Powell called the removal of outposts a “good start” that will demonstrate to the Palestinians and the world that Israelis are prepared to undertake actions they had not before committed themselves to.

Overall, a new trust had been generated between the parties about their future intent, Powell added. “The situation we are in now is unsustainable for any of the parties. I believe a degree of trust was built up over the last couple of days. Real trust is going to come from performance.”

On behalf of the “quartet” that originally designed the peace plan in December, the new U.S.-staffed coordination team will be involved in reforming the Palestinian security services, reviving the authority’s deeply troubled economy and facilitating the political transformation, he added.

In welcoming the new effort negotiated at his vacation palace, Abdullah warned that the months ahead will be fraught with challenges. “Many in our region and around the world view our gathering today through a lens marred with skepticism and suspicion. The failures and frustrations of the past have left many disbelievers in their wake.”

For his part, Bush told reporters as he flew out of Jordan that although the summit made important progress, a lot of work remained to be done.

“I will tell you that I’m pleased with the last two days,” Bush told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We have made a good beginning.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Steps to peace

President Bush discussed the ‘road map’ to peace with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas at a summit in Aqaba, Jordan.

Some key events:

Sept. 28, 2000: Sharon, then Israel’s opposition leader, visits Temple Mount, a Jerusalem shrine holy to Jews and Muslims. Clashes erupt.

Feb. 6, 2001: Sharon elected prime minister in landslide.

February 2002: Saudi initiative calls for Israeli pullout from the occupied territories in exchange for peace with Arab world. Sharon rejects it.

March 29, 2002: After a month in which 136 Israelis are killed in Palestinian attacks, Israel reoccupies Palestinian towns in the West Bank, isolating leader Yasser Arafat.

June 24, 2002: Siding with Sharon, President Bush calls on Palestinians to replace Arafat.

Jan. 28, 2003: Sharon reelected.

April 29, 2003: Abbas takes office as Palestinian Authority prime minister.

April 30, 2003: Road map to peace presented to both sides; Palestinians immediately accept it.

May 25, 2003: Israel’s government conditionally accepts road map.

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Source: Associated Press

Staff writer Megan K. Stack in Jerusalem contributed to this report.