Israel hasn't abandoned peace 'road map', Sharon tells US

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has assured US envoys that Israel had not abandoned a US-backed peace "road map", but said he would prepare go-it-alone moves in case the plan failed.

Palestinians fear Sharon's unilateral proposal to scrap Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip could mask possible plans to strengthen Israel's hold on occupied enclaves in the West Bank and ultimately deny them a viable state.

"The prime minister reiterated and emphasised that Israel is committed to the vision of US President George W Bush," Sharon's office said in a statement, referring to a negotiated peace deal with the Palestinians.

"The prime minister also emphasised the road map is the only political plan acceptable to Israel," it said.

But it added "ideas were exchanged for the continued advancement of the disengagement plan" and that Sharon spelled out its "main concept", which he has defined as a conclusion by Israel that the road map no longer stood any chance of success.

Disengagement, or what Sharon says will be the drawing of a "security line" in Gaza and the West Bank, could be a hard sell in Washington after Bush put his personal imprint on the road map, which has been stalled by violence.

Sharon told Jewish leaders he was conducting serious dialogue with Washington on "all issues on the agenda".

"I believe President Bush and the US administration are very sensitive to Israel's needs, are committed to its security and understand Israel's right to defend itself," he said.

Earlier, diplomatic sources said the three envoys -- Elliot Abrams and Stephen Hadley, both national security advisers to Bush, and State Department official William Burns -- intended to urge Sharon to stick as closely as possible to the road map.

The envoys also met Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat and Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie's chief of staff at the US consulate in East Jerusalem.

"I told them we're partners in a bilateral approach for the implementation of the two-state solution," Erekat said. "They reiterated their commitment to the road map, and to President Bush's two-state vision."

He said Israel must withdraw from the West Bank and remove settlers from Gaza to make a Palestinian state and peace a reality.

In renewed bloodshed in Gaza on Thursday, Israeli troops shot at two Palestinian gunmen as they approached a route used by Jewish settlers, military sources said.

Palestinian security officials said the army informed them two Palestinians had been killed. The officials could not immediately confirm if the two dead were gunmen or civilians.

Sharon, who has championed settlement construction on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war, earlier this month announced he had given orders to prepare to uproot as many as 17 of Israel's 21 Gaza enclaves.

Political sources close to Sharon said he wanted to secure another White House meeting with Bush and allay US concerns over Israel's construction of a barrier in the West Bank.

Sharon, the sources said, had decided to alter the barrier's route at the behest of Washington to remove loops around some West Bank settlements and avoid caging Palestinian cities.

Israel says the barrier has stopped suicide bombers from reaching its urban centres. Palestinians call it a land grab. The International Court of Justice at the Hague begins a hearing on the legality of the barrier on February 23.

"There is no better example of the cynicism of the world than the decision to hold political discussions in the International Court in The Hague against the fence that will save human lives," Sharon said.

- REUTERS