"I intend to submit this acceptance to the government of Israel's approval," Sharon added. The Cabinet is to meet Sunday morning.
The announcement followed three weeks of haggling since the Quartet formally presented Israel and the Palestinians with a series of reciprocating steps so that by 2005 Israel should live in peace and security and the Palestinians should have an independent state.
The Palestinians accepted the plan early in May and insisted the Israelis do so as well without conditions. The United States, too, urged Israel to accept the plan, with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell saying during a Mideast visit 10 days ago that "I believe there is sufficient agreement on the road map that we can get started."
The Israelis initially drew up 100 reservations but boiled that list down to 14 to 15 issues.
The impasse seemed to dominate Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' three-hour meeting last Saturday night. The Israelis have demanded the Palestinian Authority first clamp down on terror while the Palestinians pushed for Israel to first accept the "road map." The meeting ended with only one agreement: to meet again.
The head of Sharon's bureau, Dov Weissglas, flew on Tuesday to Washington, where he met national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and reached an understanding. In a carefully orchestrated step, Rice and Powell on Friday issued a statement describing Israel's points as "significant concerns."
"The United States shares the view of the government of Israel that these are real concerns, and will address them fully and seriously in the implementation of the road map to fulfill the president's vision of June 24, 2002," the U.S. statement said.
Shortly afterward, Sharon's office issued a statement of its own: "In view of the recent statement ... which shares the view of the government of Israel that these are real concerns, and in view of the U.S. promise to address those concerns fully and seriously in the implementation of the road map ... we are prepared to accept the steps set out in the road map. I intend to submit this acceptance to the government of Israel's approval."
An authoritative Israeli source told United Press International, "Israel will not be an impediment to implementing the road map. We've agreed on that with the U.S."
In turn, U.S. President George W. Bush told reporters later Friday that "I assured him (Sharon) the United States is committed to Israel's security" and "we will address any concerns."
As Israeli officials see it, implementation must begin with very determined Palestinian moves to stop terror, violence and incitement against Israel. UPI's source asserted that the American announcement and the Israeli acceptance should "remove any hurdle and excuse for the Palestinians not to begin doing their duty and fighting terror."
He said, "We shall return the onus to Abu Mazen (Abbas' common name) and that will be the real test. We want to make sure that he has no excuse, not even the flimsiest in the world not to do it."
Nabil Amr, the Palestinian Authority's information minister, said the Palestinians consider the Israeli position "as a positive step in the right direction. We hope that Israel will shoulder its responsibilities according to this plan."
Amr told UPI that he believed "President George Bush and the American administration are exerting great effort to remove the obstacles that block implementation of the road map plan."
One sticking point concerned the identity of the monitors who should verify implementation of the security clauses. Israel has favored CIA monitoring, as it is suspicious of the other Quartet members. And indeed Washington was ready to monitor implementation of the agreement, the Israeli official said.
Washington did reject Israel's demand that the Palestinians forgo, at the outset, their insistence for a right of return of refugees to their old towns and villages inside Israel proper.
Most of the refugees belong to families that left Israel in the first Arab-Israel war in 1948 and now number some 2 million to 5 million people, according to a variety of estimates. An influx of refugees to Israel that already has 1.8 million Arab citizens would eventually find Israel's 5.8 million Jews a minority in their own country.
The road map says the problem should be addressed in the last stage of the talks, after the Palestinians have a temporary state of their own. The Israelis argue that by then the Palestinians would have no incentive to compromise and forgo their demand for a right of return to Israeli lands.
The United States also rejected Israel's demand that a Saudi peace initiative, endorsed by the Arab League summit, not be mentioned in the road map. Israel never accepted the Saudi plan and an official said that its inclusion in the road map is "a dangerous legal precedent. It opens the door to including unacceptable things."
Israel opposes the peace plan's demand for an early total freeze on settlement activity in the occupied territories, including "natural growth." An Israeli official said Friday the government would be ready to dismantle settlements "only after we are sure they (the Palestinians) fight terror."
It remains to be seen how the ministers, many of whom are more hawkish than Sharon, will react to the latest developments when they come to vote on Sunday.
The Palestinians are also anxious about where they now stand. Amr, the authority's information minister, said the Palestinians are seeking clarification from the United States about how it will consider the Palestinian Authority in addressing Israeli reservations.
"Any changes during the implementation will undermine the whole process," he said, to which the authority's Cabinet minister Ziad Abu Amr added: "If the U.S. administration assures Israel that it will take into account its reservations, the same treatment should be extended to the Palestinian side."
Bush reportedly plans to meet both Sharon and Abu Mazen next month in the Middle East. An Israeli official said such a meeting might take place in Sharm e-Sheikh, a resort town at the southern tip of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
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