Last update - 19:43 16/09/2005

PA: At UN, Sharon should have called for '67 borders
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/625574.html
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent (New York), Haaretz Service and Agencies


Several Palestinian officials said Friday that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
speech at the United Nations the day before, in which he called for a
Palestinian state, fell short of their expectations.

"The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean
disregarding the rights of others in the land," Sharon said in his speech
before the General Assembly on Thursday. "They [Palestinians] are also
entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence in a state of their
own."

But Palestinian Authority security adviser Jibril Rajoub said that message was
insufficient.

"We need an unequivocal message: 'I want security for the Israelis, within the
'67 borders,'" Rajoub said Friday.

"The message that everyone in the street got was building settlements, what's
happening in Jerusalem, and the fence," he told Israel Radio.

In Sharon's speech, he referred to Jerusalem as Israel's "undivided and
eternal capital" and said Israel would continue building the West Bank
separation fence until the Palestinians end terror.

Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khatib told Israel Radio he was
disappointed by Sharon's comments on Jerusalem and the fence.

PA official Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Friday the speech shows Sharon is
interested in causing the failure of the internationally backed road map, not
in advancing the peace process, Israel Radio reported.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, called on Israel to hold
final-status talks with the Palestinians.

"We invite Sharon to resume negotiations including the issues of borders,
refugees and Jerusalem, because peace is the way for Israel and Palestinians
to live in dignity and security," Erekat said. "We stand ready in our
responsibilities in the Palestinian Authority."

But while Palestinians saw the speech as not being conciliatory enough, some
Israeli politicians saw it as overly conciliatory.

MK Michael Ratzon (Likud) said Friday the speech constituted a farewell to the
Likud.

"Sharon didn't just divorce the Likud," Ratzon told Israel Radio. "Sharon
basically gave in to the left-wing parties in Israel... He is the left."

MK Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon's main rival for chairmanship of the Likud, saw
the speech in a similar light. "In his speech, Sharon made it clear that he
has veered to the left and that he will continue his policies of concessions
and withdrawals," Netanyahu said.

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Herzog (Labor) appeared to bolster
the right-wing position Friday, when he said Sharon's speech reminded him of
slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who is lionized by the left and reviled by
the right for his role in the Oslo Accords.

Herzog said Sharon had presented a "possible platform for continued
cooperation" with Labor.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sharon's speech was not
intended to pacify either the Palestinians or the far-right "hilltop youths"
and their supporters, but to forge a middle path.

"This is not a farewell speech to the Likud," said Olmert. "This is a speech
that sets the Likud a challenge."

"There's a large gap between our position and that of the Palestinians," he
said. "If the Palestinians would agree now to what Sharon says, that might
preclude the need for negotiations."

Sharon: Palestinians entitled to sovereignty
Sharon told the General Assembly on Thursday that "as someone whose path of
life led him to be a fighter and commander in all Israel's wars," he reaches
out "to our Palestinian neighbors in a call for reconciliation and compromise
to end the bloody conflict, and embark on the path which leads to peace and
understanding between our peoples." Sharon said he viewed this as "my calling
and my primary mission for the coming years."

Sharon appeared moved. Speaking in Hebrew, the prime minister gave the speech
a personal tone: "I was born in the Land of Israel, the son of pioneers
people who tilled the land and sought no fights, who did not come to Israel
to dispossess its residents. If circumstances had not demanded it, I would not
have become a soldier, but rather a farmer and agriculturist. My first love
was, and remains, manual labor: sowing and harvesting, the pastures, the flock
and the cattle."

Sharon's central political message was his call for the establishment of a
Palestinian state: "The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does
not mean disregarding the rights of others in the land. The Palestinians will
always be our neighbors. We respect them, and have no aspirations to rule over
them. They are also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence
in a state of their own."

Sharon called on Israel and the Palestinians to "work together," in order to
"transform our plot of land, which is dear to both peoples, from a land of
contention to a land of peace, for our children and grandchildren."

On the subject of disengagement, Sharon said Israel had proven it that it was
prepared to make painful concessions to resolve the conflict. "Israeli society
is undergoing a difficult crisis as a result of the disengagement, and now
needs to heal the rifts.

"Now it is the Palestinians' turn to prove their desire for peace. The end of
Israeli control over and responsibility for the Gaza Strip allows the
Palestinians, if they so wish, to develop their economy and build a
peace-seeking society, which is developed, free, law-abiding, transparent, and
which adheres to democratic principles," he told the General Assembly.

Sharon said the most important test of Palestinian leadership would be
fulfilling its commitment "to put an end to terror and its infrastructures,
eliminate the anarchic regime of armed gangs, and cease the incitement and
indoctrination of hatred toward Israel and the Jews."

The prime minister began his speech by expressing condolences to the people of
the United States following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and addressed the
U.S. president as "my friend, President George Bush." Sharon spoke of the deep
connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel since biblical days, and
about the unbroken continuity of Jewish settlement.

He also presented his red lines: "There will be no compromise on the right of
the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, with defensible borders, in
full security and without threats and terror." Sharon mentioned the UN
resolution on the establishment of the Jewish state and the hostile
resolutions passed by that body against Israel.

Sharon also slammed Iran, though without mentioning it by name, as a country
"whose leadership calls to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, and no one
speaks out."

After his address, Sharon met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Canadian
Prime Minister Paul Martin and Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Blair, Sharon discuss Iran, IDF officer almost nabbed in U.K.
During their meeting, Sharon presented his British counterpart with data
regarding Iranian nuclear activity, Israel Radio said.

Blair told Sharon the U.K. shares Israel's concerns regarding Tehran's nuclear
threat and is gravely opposed to any attempts on Iran's part to arm itself
with nuclear weapons, according to the report.

Blair also promised to help solve the issue of IDF officer Doron Almog, who
was accused of war crimes by an Israeli human-rights group and nearly arrested
in Britain.

Sharon joked with the British prime minister and said he would need Blair's
help to stay out of British prisons, saying he had been an officer and didn't
care to visit British jails.