The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has set out, for the first time, his proposals for the creation of a Palestinian state. The plans, he said, correspond to a framework outlined earlier this year by US President George W Bush which said that a Palestinian state would follow Palestinian reforms. They call for a Palestinian state within parts of the West Bank and Gaza, with provisional borders by next year and definitive ones by 2005. However, the plans, Mr Sharon stressed, were conditional on "an absolute end to terror" and, "above all else, all the Palestinian security organisations must be disbanded." He also demanded the replacement of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
That kinda shoots the whole thing down, doesn't it? Hamas won't stop the booming, and if they did, Islamic Jihad wouldn't. The "security organizations" are a self-contained power who won't consent to being disbanded, and if they were, the members would join al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. And Yasser won't leave office until he's dragged out kicking and screaming, or else carried out in a box. |