November 19, 2001	Monday	Ramazan 3, 1422

TEL AVIV, Nov 18: A top-level EU delegation pushing for a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process crashed on Sunday into Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s insistent demand for seven days’ total calm before any return to the bargaining table.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, due to set out Washington’s vision for the region in a keynote address in Kentucky on Monday, appeared to side with Sharon, calling on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to make “100 percent effort” to end the fighting and pave the way for peace talks.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana, however, brushed aside Sharon’s demand as a “stupidity”, which he said played into the hands of extremists bent on scuppering peace efforts.

“We are demanding a complete ending of violence, not a declining of violence... seven days of testing, no less,” before going forward with the internationally drafted and approved Mitchell plan, Sharon said.

The Mitchell plan provides for a halt to violence, a six-week cooling off period, a freeze on Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories and a series of confidence-building measures.

Sharon also took the opportunity of a news conference with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to slam Arafat, accusing his administration of using EU aid money to buy weapons to turn on Israel.

“I can only recommend you do not transfer your funds to the Palestinian Authority as your money will then be used to purchase weapons and firearms, weapons which will be directed against the state of Israel,” Sharon said.

He accused Arafat of being the “source of this terror and incitement” in more than a year of unrest that has left close to 1,000 people dead, most of them Palestinians.

The Palestinians quickly condemned the statement, with chief negotiator Saeb Erakat saying Sharon “aims with this to destroy the Palestinian Authority and continue his aggression, and kill any international initiatives.”

Sharon added that he would not release funds due to the Palestinian Authority from customs revenues which Israel has blocked since the start of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, in September 2000.

Solana told reporters Sharon’s refusal to negotiate under fire was “stupidity,” since it gave “those opposed to the peace process the chance to break it.”

Romani Prodi, the European Commission president travelling in the top-level delegation, also said after the talks Sharon had been “very tough.”—AFP