Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced down rightwing critics in his Likud party today after forcing his government to endorse the Middle East peace roadmap and its vision of a Palestinian state within three years.
Israel's first-ever recognition of Palestinian statehood aspirations boosted the chances of US President George W Bush hosting a peace summit involving Mr Sharon and Palestinian premier Mr Mahmud Abbas early next month.
Mr Sharon and Abbas are also expected to meet this week, but the public and commentators alike were guarded at best about the roadmap's prospects.
Mr Sharon made some surprising remarks at a meeting of his Likud party today, making a rare use of the word "occupation" and saying he would make every effort to reach a political settlement with the Palestinians.
"I think that the idea of keeping 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is the worst thing for Israel, for the Palestinians and also for the Israeli economy," the Israeli MaarivWebsite quoted him as saying.
"Today 1.8 million Palestinians are supported by international economic organisations. Do you want to take that on yourselves? Medicine, health and education?" Mr Sharon asked the rebellious Likud members.
During the meeting, 11 Likud ministers and deputies made blistering attacks on their leader, most of them slamming the roadmap as disastrous for Israel, army radio reported.
Mr Sharon's government narrowly approved the blueprint Sunday but the ministers coupled the vote with a resolution denying Palestinian refugees the right of return and conditioned it on a list of 14 amendments, in a move which left the Palestinians fuming and cast doubt over implementation of the plan.
Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Silvan Shalom said today in Crete that a three-way summit between Mr Sharon, Mr Abbas and Mr Bush could take place in Jordan.
"This meeting is organised by the Americans. It looks like it will be in Jordan," Mr Shalom said.
There were no more details on the date and venue but the summit is expected to take place around the June 1st - 3rd G8 summit in France.
AFP