Sharon seeks out support

By Paul Reynolds BBC News Online World Affairs Correspondent

The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has arrived in London for talks with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. He will then head to Norway and is expected to go to Washington later in the month. So what does he hope to achieve?

Relations between Britain and Israel have been touchy

Has Israel "won" the current round of conflict with the Palestinians?

The claim was made recently by an Israeli defence official whose assessment did not meet with universal acceptance in Israel.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon seems to think that Israel has an advantage and now wants to capitalise on it to press for European support for his actions.

He has therefore picked up a long outstanding invitation to visit London.

He does not just want a ceasefire. He wants Hamas and Islamic Jihad disarmed, their weapons destroyed, further isolation for Yasser Arafat and for pressure on Iran to keep out of the confrontation.

His visit to London represents a rapprochement with Tony Blair who is still seen in Jerusalem as a "friend of Israel" - the friendliest in Europe, in fact - despite some problems in the relationship over the past few months.

Differing tactics

However, on the central issue of the road map to an Israeli/Palestinian settlement, the two diverge on tactics.

The British and other EU governments do not think that peace will come only the Sharon way. He has to take extensive action himself to help navigation along the road map.

The European Union position is to keep in contact with Yasser Arafat British Foreign Office official

Mr Blair is likely to stress the need for the Israelis to carry out confidence building measures to lighten the pressure on Palestinian civilians, for the fence going up around the West bank to be stopped or modified and for the complete dismantling of settlement outposts.

The issue of Palestinian prisoners is also likely to be discussed.

An Israeli official told BBC News Online: "Mr Sharon will stress the importance of fighting terror, the need for terrorist infrastructures to be dismantled and for an end to funding. Iran is also a cause of concern. It has been funding terrorism in the Palestinian areas."

Mr Sharon himself said before he left that European governments should boycott Mr Arafat because he was hindering the new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen:

"It is a major mistake to keep contact with Arafat because he is undermining Abu Mazen's government."

One of Mr Sharon's aides has said that the option of deporting Mr Arafat remained open, something Mr Blair and other EU leaders would oppose.

Firm line

Mr Blair will no doubt listen to this approach keenly as the two men have dinner together in the private quarters of Number 10, an unusual honour which the Israelis appreciate.

But the Foreign Office was also firm in the line it took about some of Mr Sharon's demands.

We can see a change of attitude to Israel in Europe since the roadmap Israeli official

"The European Union position is to keep in contact with Yasser Arafat," said one official. "He has high standing among the Palestinians, has an influence on the roadmap and is after all an elected leader."

As for Hamas, the official drew the usual European distinction between its political and military wings. The political leadership should not be ignored, he said. "Now is not the right time to put Hamas in a corner."

However, he did say also that the Palestinian authority should disarm the militant groups, which is what the road map calls for.

An unusual feature of the official's comments was one to the effect that his department "is responsible for keeping good relations with Israel."

That has not always been the view in the Foreign Office, many of whose officials thought their role was to keep some check on Israel.

Anger at BBC

It is a sign of how relations between Britain and Israel have developed over the last 20 years or so, though they are still very touchy and prone to being blown off course.

The Israeli official said: "We can see a change of attitude to Israel in Europe since the roadmap. There has been a difficult period and we hope it is behind us."

Sharon last visited London over a year ago

One outstanding issue, for example, remains the British refusal to sell Israel replacement ejector seats for its aging Phantom jet fighters.

This is all tied up, it seems, with British anger that Israel used old Centurion tanks on the West Bank despite previous assurances that it would not.

One thing Mr Blair and Mr Sharon will have in common is the BBC as both are currently in dispute with it.

The Israelis refused to invite a BBC correspondent to a breakfast media briefing with Mr Sharon in London on Tuesday as part of its "making life difficult" policy towards the Corporation.

Israeli anger centres on a film broadcast on BBC World TV, seen in Israel, about Israel's nuclear programme. An implied comparison to Iraq annoyed it especially.