UNITED NATIONS, Sept 15: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Thursday that it was now the turn of the Palestinians to prove they want peace following Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Mr Sharon said the Palestinians were entitled to a state of their own and that Israel was reaching out for reconciliation with them and its Arab neighbours.

He also urged the Palestinians to “eliminate terror” and the “culture of hatred” in relations with the Jewish state.

“It is now the Palestinians’ turn to prove their desire for peace,” Mr Sharon said, following Israel’s first removal of settlements from occupied land which Palestinians want for a state.

“The Palestinians will always be our neighbours. We respect them and do not desire to rule over them. They also deserve freedom and a sovereign national entity,” he said.

Mr Sharon reiterated his longstanding call for the Palestinian Authority to disarm militant groups as stipulated in a US-backed peace “road map” for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel.

“I call on the Palestinian leadership ... to get rid of the terrorists,” he said, adding that Palestinians must end “the incitement and hatred towards Jews and Israel”.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who declared a ceasefire along with Mr Sharon in February, has avoided confronting the powerful militants, citing the risk of civil war. Instead, he wants to co-opt them into security services. —Reuters