Palestinian State

JERUSALEM - Calling Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority a "rotten and dictatorial regime of terror," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that Israel would not enter any peace negotiations until it could sit down with a "different Authority." "The Palestinian Authority must be reformed in every respect," Sharon said, demanding changes to the political, security, social, financial and legal structures. "Everything must be overhauled." In his remarks to parliament, Sharon formally added the requirement of reform to his longstanding condition of a complete halt to all Palestinian violence and incitement against Israel before talks could begin.

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who steadfastly has resisted full-fledged peace talks with the Palestinians, held a wide-ranging discussion with their leader yesterday on relations between Israel and a future Palestinian state. Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas were accompanied by aides for the first half of the two-hour meeting and then talked one-on-one. They issued no statements afterward, leaving the aides to give somewhat differing accounts.

ISRAEL'S ARIEL SHARON can be a demagogue, and his military response to combat terrorism could be a prelude to more terror attacks. But the question the prime minister posed after surveying the scene of the latest suicide bombing in Israel deserves serious reflection. Referring to President Bush's expected call for the establishment of a Palestinian state, Mr. Sharon angrily stated: It would be interesting to know what kind of Palestinian state they mean. What Palestinian state? The twin suicide missions that left 26 Israelis dead in two days reinforce the thesis in Israel and here that Palestinians prefer to have militants represent their interests than peace negotiators.

I read with interest Rabbi Chaim Landau's comment on the possibility that the United Nations could recognize a Palestinian state in September ("Mr. Obama, don't equate Israel with its enemies," May 27). In 1948, the state of Israel was created by the United Nations; Israel had not existed for 2,000 years prior to then. Yet although land was taken from the Palestinians to create Israel, the Palestinians have never been compensated for their loss, nor have they or their descendants been granted any right of return to their ancestral homeland.

CAIRO, Egypt - Mahmoud Abbas, the leading candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, said yesterday that Palestinians want to begin negotiating terms of final statehood with Israel as soon as possible and hope to reach an accord by the end of next year. Abbas, who is considered a moderate, told reporters after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo that Palestinians would not accept a temporary solution. "Even a state with interim borders is a waste of time," he said.

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, pressing for progress in peace talks ahead of a visit next week by President Bush, said yesterday that an Israeli-Palestinian agreement by the end of the year is an "achievable goal." Rice's upbeat remarks contrasted with more pessimistic assessments voiced by leaders on both sides, and her talks in Israel were overshadowed by a new corruption investigation against Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Talks were revived in November at a conference hosted by Bush in Annapolis with the goal of reaching an agreement by year's end. But since then, there have been no visible signs of progress.

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leaders decided yesterday against declaring statehood Tuesday, retreating from a pledge that the Israelis saw as a threat and defusing a potentially volatile situation.At the urging of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, the Palestinian Central Council ended a three-day meeting in Gaza City by postponing the idea of pronouncing the West Bank and Gaza Strip a Palestinian state.Under the terms of the Oslo peace accord, Tuesday was the target date for completing final peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but the negotiations have barely begun.

WASHINGTON - Yasser Arafat is a dead man walking. Few American, Israeli or Arab leaders, not to mention Palestinians, really believe anymore that he will ever lead his people into a peace deal with Israel. The only thing keeping Mr. Arafat afloat today is that no one wants to own his demise - neither Israel nor America nor the Arabs nor his own aides wants responsibility for finishing him off. That's why this conflict has left the realm of diplomacy and entered the realm of biology - everyone is just waiting for Mr. Arafat to pass away.

AS THE war in Iraq ends, there are growing pressures on the Bush administration to move ahead with the "road map" that lays a path to an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. These pressures come from America's Arab allies, especially Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which were shaken by the war, and from Britain, the major U.S. ally in the conflict. Opposition to the road map comes from conservatives in Israel, especially such members of the coalition government as the National Religious Party and the National Union Party, and from the right wing in the American Jewish community and the Christian Coalition.

THE DECISION by the central committee of Israel's ruling Likud party to reject the creation of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River may be more consequential for diplomacy and politics than is apparent. To be sure, party positions and platforms rarely obligate governments and leaders, and this decision is probably not different from other political maneuvers. Even former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had rejected the Oslo agreements, ultimately found himself going along with them and pushing them forward through the Wye River accords that he signed.