Palestinians reject Sharon's peace 'test'

The Palestinian Authority has rejected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new and seemingly softer terms for renewing peace talks, saying he should drop all conditions for dialogue.

Sharon, proposing what he called a test for a new Palestinian leadership, said it could show its desire for peace by ending anti-Israeli incitement even before the crackdown he has long demanded it launch against militants.

"(The Israelis) should begin by abandoning their policy of setting conditions and stop their incitement (against the Palestinians)," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

Sharon told members of his Likud party that anti-Israeli propaganda in Palestinian schools and media was as dangerous as Palestinian weapons.

"I don't intend to waste time and my plan is to find any way, when the new Palestinian leadership is ready to open talks, to begin to advance our relations with the Palestinians," Sharon said in broadcast remarks.

"How will the Palestinian leadership be tested? We must not waive our demands on collecting weapons and dismantling terrorist organizations, but it's clear that this is a more complicated process," he said.

"In contrast, there are two demands that are in the new leadership's control, which they must implement immediately," Sharon added, citing an end to "constant poisonous incitement and propaganda" in the Palestinian media and education system.

Israeli analysts called Sharon's comments a departure from his long-standing condition that the Palestinian Authority must dismantle militant groups, as a US-backed peace "road map" demands, before direct talks between the sides can resume.

VISITS AHEAD

Sharon addressed his party ahead of visits to the West Bank and Israel by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who announced his resignation Monday, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Israeli and Palestinian sources said British Foreign Minister Jack Straw is also expected to arrive next week.

President Bush has said Arafat's death opened new opportunities for peace, and the top diplomats are expected to push for a revival of the road map, which charts reciprocal, confidence-building steps leading to a Palestinian state.
In what he has called the absence of a peace partner, Sharon has vowed to carry out a unilateral plan to remove all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank in 2005.

But he said this week he would consider coordinating the pullout with the Palestinians if they reined in militants.

Palestine Liberation Organization leader Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to crack down on armed groups to smooth the way to a Jan. 9 presidential election for a successor to Arafat, who died of an undisclosed illness on Nov. 11.

- REUTERS