Sharon Rejects Plan for President to Call for Ceasefire With Palestinians

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 01, 2002

Sharon Rejects Plan for President to Call for Ceasefire With Palestinians

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman Tuesday confirmed that Sharon has rejected the proposal for President Moshe Katsav to speak to the Palestinian lawmakers and call for a ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman Tuesday confirmed that Sharon has rejected the proposal for President Moshe Katsav to speak to the Palestinian lawmakers and call for a ceasefire.

Ra'anan Gissin told Xinhua that the proposal is a Palestinian "public relations ploy" which was designed to remove pressure on Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Yasser Arafat to takeactions against the radical militants engaged in violence.

Gissin charged that Arafat "had not taken one step" to arrest those involved in the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi on October 17 last year.

He also believed that different initiatives at this stage would only serve as "substitutes" to real ceasefire efforts on the Palestinians and provide "legitimacy" to Arafat.

Israel declared the PNA as a "terrorist-supporting entity" and later on decided to cut all ties with Arafat while declaring the Palestinian leader as being "irrelevant."

The idea for the Israeli president to appear before the Palestinian Legislative Council in the West Bank city of Ramallah and propose a one-year "hudna," ceasefire in Arabic, was put forward by three Israelis and aroused interest in the president.

Sharon, however, believed the idea will cause damage to Israel.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who has managed to circumvent theban on contacts with the Palestinians, also turned the proposal down, believing it would undermine his talks with the Speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmed Qurei (known as Abu Ala).

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