HERZLIYA, Israel, 17 December 2004 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon voiced hopes yesterday for a historic breakthrough in the Middle East conflict with a new Palestinian leadership committed to negotiations and not to violence.
In a keynote speech near Tel Aviv, Sharon insisted that his controversial plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip would be implemented within the coming year and that he hoped that it would be coordinated with the Palestinians.
“In 2005 we have the opportunity for a historic breakthrough in relations between us and the Palestinians,” Sharon told delegates.
“We will act with all our might to ensure that this year of opportunity will not become a year of missed opportunities.”
Sharon said that the death of veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Nov. 11 had removed the biggest obstacle to peace in the region and his successors were likely to tread a different path.
The moderate PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who has called for an end to the armed intifada, is the favorite to win election due to take place on Jan. 9 for a replacement for Arafat.
“In light of the new opportunities and potential of a new Palestinian leadership, Israel will be prepared to coordinate various elements relating to our disengagement plan with the future Palestinian government — a government which is ready and able to take responsibility for the areas which we leave,” the premier told the conference.
Abbas meanwhile came under fire from Palestinians yesterday over his recent comments that the armed uprising had been “harmful” and that weapons should be laid down.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Abbas’ Fatah faction, said that “no one has the right to bring up the question of arms” while the Israeli occupation was continuing.
“If Abu Mazen (Abbas) has something to say to us, he would do better to come and talk with us,” Zakaria Zubeidi, the group’s leader in its Jenin stronghold, told AFP.
“Calls by some Palestinian persons to stop the armed uprising are totally rejected ... These statements are not binding on us,” a masked gunman said on the video.
“The blessed intifada will continue, both on its military and popular lines. No one, however senior or at whatever level — Palestinian, Arab or international — will be able to stop it,” added the gunman, wearing an Islamic Jihad headband.
