Israeli Political strategist Eyal Arad, also Ariel Sharon’s top advisor, told the British daily newspaper the Guardian that Sharon does not intend to implement the principle of land for peace if he wins the Knesset elections slated for March, 2006.
In bid to get more votes for his new party, Sharon will switch to the Road Map instead of the Oslo accords which, according to Arad, have failed with the Palestinians
"If he is re-elected as a prime minister in the coming elections, Sharon will offer the Palestinians independence in exchange for a guarantee of Israeli security”, Arad stated, “He will follow the Road Map peace plan, and abandon the principle of Land for Peace”
“The Road Map replaced the falsehood of ‘territories for peace’ with a much more realistic formula; security for independence," Arad added.
Sharon’s offer to the Palestinians will be conditioned with a Palestinian commitment to dismantle the armed resistance factions.
"The road map calls for the total dismantling of all armed factions. What Sharon and the Road Map are saying is that nothing will happen before there is full compliance."
“The principle in Oslo that, if you remove Israeli occupation, Palestinians will stop attacking Israel is "both false philosophically and politically naïve” Arad added.
“The root of the conflict is based on the Palestinian quest for independence”, Arad stated.
Also, Arad claimed that the Palestinian Authority showed an optimistic response to “Sharon’s bold move to abandon the [Likud] party he served in for 32 years”.
Earlier this week, Sharon confidante Eli Landau told the radio that Sharon had quit Likud in order to advance a far-reaching diplomatic plan aimed at arriving at a permanent agreement with the Palestinians.
According to high ranking Israeli officials, if Sharon wins the coming elections he will be forced to take a “dramatic step” to draw Israel’s permanent borders with security by the disarmament of the Palestinian resistance groups.
“His decision stems from his desire to achieve permanent borders for the state of Israel during his term of office”, Landau said. “He knows that this step will be a dramatic one”.
Sharon held the first meeting of his new faction, and said that his main goal would be “to lay the foundation for a peace in which we set the permanent borders of the state, while insisting on the dismantling of the terror organizations”.
Sharon resigned from his Likud Party earlier this week in an effort to gain a free hand to proceed in negotiations with the Palestinians, Israeli sources reported.
Recent polls conducted after his resignation from the Likud forming a new party showed he has better chances of winning the Knesset elections.
