Bush 'to chair' Mid-East summit

Sharon: This cannot go on forever

United States President George W Bush is likely to hold a summit with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers in Jordan next week, Israel says.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the talks would focus on implementation of the international peace initiative known as the roadmap. He was speaking at the beginning of a Euro-Mediterranean summit in Crete.

The diplomatic push follows Sunday's decision by the Israeli cabinet to accept the roadmap and its goal of creating a viable Palestinian state - the first time an Israeli government has ever accepted such a plan, albeit with reservations.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended the decision at a Likud Party meeting on Monday during which he also told members that that "to keep 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is the worst thing for us and for them".

It is the first time Mr Sharon, who has long argued that a Palestinian state would pose a mortal danger to Israel, has publicly used the word "occupation" to refer to Israel's presence in West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Right wing hardliners disapprove of the word as they believe Israel has a legitimate claim to the territory for religious and security reasons.

ROADMAP MAIN POINTS

Phase 1 (to May 2003): End to Palestinian violence; Palestinian political reform; Israeli withdrawal and freeze on settlement expansion; Palestinian elections

Phase 2: (June-Dec 2003) Creation of an independent Palestinian state; international conference and international monitoring of compliance with roadmap

Phase 3 (2004-2005): Second international conference; permanent status agreement and end of conflict; agreement on final borders, Jerusalem, refugees and settlements; Arab states to agree to peace deals with Israel

Roadmap full text

Can Mid-East roadmap work?

Mr Sharon said he would do everything to reach a political arrangement with the Palestinians because it was important for Israel.

The BBC's Jeremy Cooke, in Jerusalem, says there has been a general expectation in the region that Mr Bush would want to visit the region to demonstrate to both sides his personal commitment to the roadmap.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said he would welcome talks between Mr Bush, Mr Sharon and his counterpart Mahmoud Abbas - who is better known as Abu Mazen.

Mr Arafat also said that ahead of the summit he expected Mr Sharon and Abu Mazen to meet "in the coming 48 hours or less".

It would be their second meeting since Abu Mazen took office on 30 April.

French support

Mr Arafat was himself holding talks with the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, who reiterated France's commitment to help build an independent Palestinian state.

Mr de Villepin said the emphasis must now be on proper implementation of the peace plan.

"The roadmap has been accepted by the two parties. It must be applied, each side must take up its responsibilities, each side must play its part," he said.

Winning local support for the roadmap is likely to prove a difficult task

Our Jerusalem correspondent says that for both the Palestinians and the Israelis, there are uncomfortable challenges to be met if the roadmap is to succeed.

In the latest violence, witnesses said Israeli troops shot dead an 11-year-old Palestinian boy during a confrontation with stone-throwing youths near Ramallah in the West Bank. The army said it shot dead a man who infiltrated Israel from Gaza.

The Palestinian prime minister has promised to crack down on Islamic militants and end suicide bombings against Israeli targets.

The Israeli prime minister is required to withdraw some troops from Palestinian areas and to put a complete stop to the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Mr Sharon had warned his cabinet that failure to approve the plan - which the Palestinians had already accepted - would lead to a crisis with Washington.

Despite this, nearly half the Israeli cabinet either voted against the peace plan or abstained, and ministers set down conditions for accepting it - including a demand that the Palestinians must take the first step to end violence.

Before voting, the cabinet passed a motion rejecting the Palestinian demand of the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel - a move which Israel says would demographically destroy the Jewish state.