- UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan today said Israel would have to return land
to the Palestinians in order to achieve peace, and that pulling out of
the Gaza Strip would not be enough.
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- Annan, a co-sponsor of the "road map" Middle
East peace plan, also said he was encouraged by the prospects for a settlement
and that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon still supported the internationally-backed
blueprint.
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- "I think the issue really is land for peace and
eventually Israel will have to give up land to make that peace possible,"
he told reporters when questioned about Sharon's announcement that 17 Gaza
settlements would be evacuated.
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- "If Israel were to decide to withdraw from Gaza
as a necessary first step... one will also have to consider when the next
steps on the West Bank are going to be taken because the land for peace
is not just Gaza, it also embraces the West Bank."
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- Sharon, however, was considering whether to ask the United
States to agree on a plan to expand West Bank settlement blocs in exchange
for a Gaza pullout, his spokesman in Jerusalem said.
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- Sharon said in December that he would unilaterally disengage
from the Palestinians if they failed to fulfil their commitments under
the road map, which aims to create an independent Palestinian state.
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- But Annan cautioned that it was still too early to jump
to conclusions about Israel's plans.
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- "The question of the withdrawal is under discussions
and it has not been approved by the Knesset (the Israeli parliament),"
Annan said.
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- "There is even talk of a referendum, so let's see
how it evolves," he told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
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- "But I think we should take it seriously.... we
have to have positive expectations and work with them and refine these
things as we go forward."
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- Copyright 2003 News Limited.
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- http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8607818%255E1702,00.html
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