TEL AVIV, Dec 28: Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’s peace plan has no chances of succeeding, hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted as saying by the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper on Friday.

“Nothing will come of this plan. It no longer exists. The fact it was presented to the public sealed its burial,” Sharon said at a meeting of his right-wing Likud party on Thursday.

“It is an imaginary and inapplicable plan because there is no chance that the Palestinians will cease their terrorist actions within eight weeks,” he said.

Sharon belittled the plan, first leaked in Yediot on Dec 23, as “dangerous for Israel” and crossing the boundaries of the contacts Sharon authorized between Peres and Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qorei.

This week, Sharon disavowed knowledge of the talks, before admitting he had sanctioned them. Likud member and Environment Minister Tzahi Hanegbi accused Peres on army radio of “overstepping his mandate”.—AFP