U.S. to address Israeli worries

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will present the plan to his Cabinet.
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- The Bush administration, hoping to spur momentum toward Middle East peacemaking, pledged today to "fully and seriously" address Israel's concerns about a new peace plan.
"The United States shares the view of the government of Israel that these are real concerns," said a statement issued jointly by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser.
The statement, released from Bush's Texas ranch, stresses that there's room to hear contrasting views on the so-called "road map" peace plan. But at a news conference in Paris, Powell said: "With respect to the road map, we're not planning on making any changes to the road map."
"We have told the Israeli government that we would take their comments and address them seriously and fully as we went forward in the implementation of the road map," Powell, who was meeting with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, told reporters.
"This does not require us to change the road map. It is a good document that leads to the president's vision of two states living in peace side by side," Powell said.
Sharon accepts plan
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today he is "prepared to accept" the U.S.-backed peace plan and will present it to the Cabinet for approval.
The Israeli Cabinet will discuss the peace plan on Sunday or Monday, said Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin, who added that Sharon had informed Bush of the decision.
"In light of the fact that the United States will address Israel's concern ... Israel accepts the road map," Gissin said. The U.S. statement made it possible for the plan to pass the Cabinet, he said.
A statement released by Sharon's office said: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has informed the United States that the state of Israel is prepared to accept the steps prescribed in the road map and that the matter will be brought before the Cabinet for approval."
Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr told The Associated Press: "We are ready to start the implementation process immediately. We have got American confirmation that there will not be any changes in the road map."
Moving forward
The chain of events represented progress for Bush as he considers a new stepped-up personal investment in Mideast peacemaking. It was also a sign that the road map could survive, despite a string of bloody suicide attacks this month in Israel.
Powell and Rice said in their statement that Bush asked the Israeli government to respond to the road map "with contributions to this document to advance true peace." In that response, the pair said, the Israelis explained their "significant concerns."
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Bush and Sharon might meet at the end of next week in Europe, where Bush will be attending a meeting of the world's eight leading industrial nations.
Bush's aim with the announcement and any high-profile meeting with Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas would be to prod them toward a settlement of the long-running, violent Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Sharon signaled his qualified support for the peace plan for the first time Wednesday, an Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He told the White House through an emissary that he would go along with it as long as the White House took his concerns into account.
Concerns
One of Sharon's main worries is that the road map, which requires the dismantling of recently established Israeli outposts, might be construed as requiring the dismantling of all Jewish settlements on the West Bank. Sharon told the Israeli people last week that abandoning settlements was not on the horizon.
Palestinian officials said today they would not accept any changes to the peace proposal and that they'd been assured by the Bush administration there would be none.
"We are ready to implement the road map as one package ... and without any changes," the Palestinian information minister, Nabil Amr, said.
The road map is an attempt to end 32 months of fighting, freeze construction of Jewish homes on the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state by 2005 on land Israel has held for 36 years.
Although planning for a summit at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik is in the works, a senior administration official cautioned that it may not become a reality.
It depends on whether the two sides take steps toward peace in the days ahead, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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