NY Times: Sharon's Limited Vision

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Sharon's Limited Vision

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel did little to advance the cause of Middle East peace yesterday when he warned the Palestinians that if they did not move to uphold their end of an agreement soon, Israel would act unilaterally. He is right that the Palestinian Authority is required, under the American-sponsored peace plan known as the road map, to dismantle terrorist networks, and has failed to do so. But he is wrong that the plan views that step as a precondition to Israel taking its own painful steps, namely the freezing of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and an end to confiscation and demolition of Palestinian homes and property. The sides are to act simultaneously.

Mr. Sharon did make a bit of history in the speech, which comes at a time of soul-searching within his party due to growing public impatience with violence and hard economic times. He said that any unilateral moves by Israel would include moving some settlements "to reduce as much as possible the number of Israelis located in the heart of the Palestinian population." This is the first time that the leader of the conservative Likud Party has promised to remove Jewish settlements in occupied lands. But no details were offered, and it seems likely that Mr. Sharon hopes only to move some isolated settlements alongside others still within occupied areas, rapidly complete a physical barrier and, in effect, tell the Palestinians that he has nothing further to say to them.

His promise to remove about 100 settlement outposts put up in the last few years is welcome, although it was not the first time he has made it. The hilltop outposts are not only a stick in the eye of Palestinians but also illegal by Mr. Sharon's own reckoning. Their dismantling, along with humanitarian steps that he offered — removing closures and curfews on Palestinians and reducing the number of roadblocks in the occupied areas — are vital. But they are insufficient, and his threat that if Palestinians do not make a move "in a few months" he will act unilaterally seems likely to increase violence and instability.

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Sharon's Limited Vision

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