May 27, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24,1424

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TEL AVIV, May 26: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fended off right-wing criticism of the US-backed “road map” to peace with the Palestinians on Monday as the two sides prepared for a summit with US President George Bush.

One day after Israel’s cabinet backed the plan despite right-wing opposition, US officials said Mr Bush planned to meet Mr Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas next week, possibly in Jordan’s Red Sea port city of Aqaba.

The officials said the US president may also hold separate talks with other Arab leaders, with the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh a possible venue. Sharon and Abbas are expected to meet before then to discuss the road map.

Mr Bush’s attendance at a summit would underscore his personal commitment to securing Israeli-Palestinian peace following the US-led invasion of Iraq that angered many people in the Arab world.

He hopes to ensure the most ambitious Middle East blueprint in two years gets off the ground after pressuring Sharon and his cabinet into accepting it, albeit with reservations. The Palestinians backed the initiative last month.

Defending the plan at a stormy meeting with legislators of his right-wing Likud party, Mr Sharon said neither side would gain if Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip forever. Israel seized the territories in the 1967 war.

“I want to say clearly I will do everything to reach a political arrangement because I think it’s important for Israel,” Mr Sharon said. “We don’t like the word, but this is occupation. To keep 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is bad for Israel and the Palestinians.”

UNUSUAL POSITION: A long-time supporter of building Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, he found himself defending a plan whose initial phase requires Israel to freeze settlement expansion and dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001.

Many Likud members criticized the cabinet’s endorsement of the plan, which outlines reciprocal steps leading to the establishment of Palestinian state by 2005.

Mr Sharon has reservations about the plan and won a US promise last week to address those concerns while the road map is being implemented. Washington ruled out changing the plan drafted with the UN, EU and Russia.

The Israeli premier assured one lawmaker from a West Bank settlement that homes would continue to be built in the community despite the road map’s call for a blanket construction freeze.

“You can build for your children and grandchildren and I hope for your great-grandchildren,” he said, asked about “natural growth” — housing to accommodate expanding settler families. The peace plan specifically bans “natural growth”.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said he welcomed Israel’s endorsement of the road map, “but no doubt the 12 reservations they have placed on it raises question marks about this acceptance”.—Reuters