May 6, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1424

AMMAN, May 5: Jordan’s state minister for foreign affairs has dismissed as “ridiculous” efforts by Israel’s ultra-nationalist minister of tourism to block the creation of a Palestinian state west of the River Jordan.

Shaher Bak told Jordan’s pro-government daily Al Rai on Monday that Benny Elon’s plan “is ridiculous ... and does not reflect the position of the Israeli government”.

Mr Elon began on Sunday a visit to the United States in hopes of persuading the government to drop its support for a Palestinian state and the latest plan to achieve it known as the “roadmap” to peace.

The plan calls for incremental steps toward resolving the Middle East conflict and creating a Palestinian state in 2005.

Mr Elon was expected to meet with right-wing evangelical Christian leaders in the United States to urge them to lobby against the creation of a Palestinian state west of the River Jordan.

He will “discuss the impending roadmap and the danger a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River poses to the State of Israel,” according to an Israel government statement released late Saturday.

Elon favours a vast internationally-financed plan to move the estimated 1.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to Arab states, such as Jordan, and also provide the option for Israel’s 1.1 million Arab citizens to leave.

But Bak said Elon’s plans were merely “ink on paper” that would fail to get the support of the US administration, adding that it was aimed at “putting obstacles to implementing the roadmap or finding any solution to the Palestinian cause”.

Elon is a political ally of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharo.

14 LIFE SENTENCES: An Israeli court on Monday handed down 14 life sentences plus 50 years to a senior Palestinian militant who masterminded attacks that killed 14 Israelis, the justice ministry said.

Nasser Awis, described by Israel as a deputy to Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti, is the highest ranking militant to be sentenced in Israel since the Palestinian revolt for independence erupted in Sept 2000 when peace talks stalled.

The Tel Aviv district court convicted Awis, 33, last week on eight charges that included shooting attacks on a Tel Aviv restaurant.—AFP / Reuters