Peres: Israel Should Advance Peace Talks
AP
Date: 04-05-05
By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer
TEL AVIV, Israel - Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Tuesday that Israel should speed up peace efforts, stop expanding settlements and work hard to build Palestinian prosperity in the Gaza Strip once Israel withdraws this summer.
"We have to make peace individual, tangible and immediate," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told The Associated Press. But the question is: Can he impress these lofty doctrines upon his boss, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon?
Peres was scheduled to travel to Washington later Tuesday to coordinate with U.S. officials on Israel's planned pullout from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements.
He confirmed Israel will ask the U.S. for money to help with the withdrawals, though he declined to say how much. He said U.S. assistance will be necessary to ensure Gaza's economic viability after Israel leaves ? including opening new roads and increasing social support ? as well as help Israel develop new communities within its pre-1967 boundaries.
Peres, 81, joined a national unity government with Sharon in February to ensure the success of the pullout plan known as "disengagement." He said peace between Israelis and Palestinians is once again possible following last year's death of Yasser Arafat, but added that there is a "deep need that we should be more energetic and move faster than we do."
"History is like a galloping horse. When it passes your house, either you mount the horse or the horse will gallop without you," he said.
Though united in the disengagement plan, Peres and Sharon appear to be at odds on a number of key issues, including the government's recent confirmation that it would go ahead with plans to build 3,650 homes around Maaleh Adumim, the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank. If completed, the expansion would effectively cut off West Bank Palestinians from their intended capital in East Jerusalem.
"I think that the story of the passage between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim shouldn't be on the agenda right now. It's not timely," Peres said.
Officials say the government's intention is to destroy houses in the Gaza Strip abandoned by settlers, though no final decision has been made. Peres said, "I think that the government ... is not in a hurry to destroy the houses."
Critics say Sharon is unilaterally imposing a blueprint for the future borders of Israel that would extend beyond the 1967 frontiers the Palestinians say should frame their hoped-for state. The government is building a massive separation barrier in the West Bank whose route encompasses major Jewish settlements near Jerusalem.
Again, Peres has a different idea.
"The future border must be the result of negotiations. ... A border is a matter of agreement, not a matter of marking alone."
All in all, though, the former prime minister and key player in Israel's long history of war and peace said he and the 77-year-old Sharon are best equipped to lead Israel to a better day. Their advanced ages and veteran status, he said, mean they're not "afraid of complicated decisions."
"And that's our task. To pave roads for a new generation."
Peres said Israel's people, like Sharon, have undergone an important transformation, understanding that peace requires painful compromises and that Israel's four-decade settlement enterprise in the West Bank and Gaza was largely a mistake.
"The fact is people who were worshipping the greater Israel are changing their minds, if not about all the settlements, at least about a part of them," he said, referring to the biblical concept that Israel, the West Bank and Gaza belong to the Jews ? a backbone of the settlement enterprise.
Peres had kind words for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
"I think Abbas has shown himself to be a very serious man," Peres said. He expressed doubt, however, that Abbas would be able to control militants through persuasion, without dismantling what he called the terrorist infrastructure.
"There's an Arab proverb that says if you want to beat a stone, don't do it with an egg," Peres said.
Source
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
|