JERUSALEM - The significance of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip is to put the establishment of a Palestinian state on hold indefinitely, and do so with the permission of the United States, a senior Sharon aide said in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday.
The comments of Mr Dov Weisglass, Mr Sharon's point man with the Bush administration, constituted the most far-reaching declaration made by a senior Israeli official on Mr Sharon's policy toward the Palestinians. The remarks also appeared to contradict long-standing US policy on the Middle East.
He spoke as Mr Sharon was attempting to overcome strong opposition in his ruling Likud Party to his so-called plan of 'unilateral disengagement' from the Palestinians. The plan envisions an Israeli pullout from the volatile territory by the end of 2005, including the removal of all 8,200 Jewish settlers there. Four small West Bank settlements would also be dismantled.
'The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process,' he told the Haaretz daily. 'Effectively, the whole package called the Palestinian state with all that entails has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission - all this with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress.'
Mr Sharon's office was not immediately available to comment on Mr Weisglass's remarks. However, the PM has said in a recent interview that Israel is no longer following the 'road map', a US-backed peace plan that envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state.
However, he is Mr Sharon's senior diplomatic adviser, and it is unlikely he would have made them without his approval.
There was no immediate Palestinian comment. The US Embassy in Tel Aviv also had no immediate comment on the remarks. -- AP
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