Israel firm on call for calm before peace

WASHINGTON - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has demanded 10 days of "absolute quiet" in a ceasefire with the Palestinians before moving to the second phase of a proposed peace plan.

Sharon emerged from talks with United States President George W. Bush resolute against US appeals for the Israelis to moderate their insistence on a period of complete calm between the two sides, because of the steady nature of the bloodshed in the nine-month Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

"I made clear that when violence and terror are over ... we will insist on 10 days of absolute quiet, and if there are 10 days, we will gladly move to a cooling-off period," Sharon said after meeting Bush at the White House.

He said a cooling-off period should last at least six weeks before the two sides could move to "confidence-building measures," aimed at setting the stage for peace negotiations.

Asked if there was now a rift between Israel and the United States over starting a cooling-off period, Sharon said: "I would suggest not creating something that doesn't exist."

But he added, "I'm not saying we agree on everything."

Sitting side by side in the Oval Office, Bush and Sharon appeared to disagree openly on how to advance a peace plan by former US Senator George Mitchell that is the subject of urgent consultations.

Sharon, angered by what he considers Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's failure to stop Palestinian violence almost two weeks into a ceasefire, called for a "full cessation of hostilities, of terror and incitement" before moving ahead with the Mitchell recommendations.

"Israel will not negotiate under fire," Sharon said. "If it will do that, it will never reach peace. Therefore, we have to be very strict in order to reach peace."

But Bush did not mention a full halt to the violence, instead insisting that the "cycle of violence must be broken" before starting a cooling-off period.

"Both parties will understand when the level of violence has got down to the point where there can be some progress. We just want to make sure that there's a realistic assessment of what is possible on the ground. And we believe that at some point in time we can start the process of Mitchell," he said.

- REUTERS


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