Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel will not hold any negotiations on the Road Map if the Palestinian resistance does not stop its operations, and until the P.A becomes a ‘democratic regime”.
“We can’t start negotiations based on the Road Map before the Palestinian groups stop their attacks, and incitement against Israel, we can’t discuss Road Map before they implement democracy”, Olmert said.
Olmert, talking to the army radio on Friday, said that the rumors which some Israeli right wing parties spread about guarantees given by the US president, George Bush, to the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, are completely groundless.
Olmert added that the US government always believed that the Palestinian state should have geographical unity, especially in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, s senior source at Sharon’s office said that the US president rejected a request by Abbas to skip the second stage of the Road Map plan and start negotiations on the final status solution immediately after Israel implement the disengagement plan.
The second stage of the Road Map calls for a establishing a Palestinian State with temporary borders.
The Israeli online daily Haaretz reported on Friday that Sharon’s office reported that homemade shells fired by the resistance ‘convinced the US president that the P.A is not conducting enough efforts to dismantle the armed groups, and is not implementing its obligations”.
Also, Haaretz added that Sharon was “relieved” after the US president refused to give Abbas guarantees regarding settlement activities.
Sharon’s’ office reported that Bush did not release any new statements and positions concerning settlements and random settlement outposts.
