The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, threatens to provoke a fresh row with the Palestinians today by warning that he has a plan to bring one million more Jews to Israel. Mr Sharon made the controversial remarks in an exclusive interview.
A wave of Jewish immigration on that scale would be vehemently opposed by the Palestinians, who fear many of the immigrants would be sent to reinforce Jewish settlers living illegally on Palestinian territory in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israeli diplomats last night sought to play down the significance of Mr Sharon's comments at a time when the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians is at its lowest point for decades.
One Israeli diplomat said the remark was a generational one, reflecting the Prime Minister's pioneering Zionist background.
But Mr Sharon was specific in the interview: "We are not waiting here until the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat decides to take steps against terror. First of all, we are taking steps against terror: steps that he could have avoided.
"The other thing is that we are building. We are planning now to bring another million Jews to Israel." The population of Israel at present is six million, of whom five million are Jewish and the rest mainly Muslim.
Mr Afif Safieh, head of the Palestinian delegation in London, condemned the plan: "Sharon believes what he says. It is a dangerous dream, a nightmare. He is a pyromaniac on a powder keg."
Israel has attracted almost one million immigrants over the last 10 years, mainly from the former Soviet Union. It is difficult to see where Mr Sharon will attract one million more, though he could squeeze some from the former Soviet Union or try such countries as Argentina. The general tone of Mr Sharon's interview is uncompromising at a time when the US is desperately trying to persuade him to cool the Middle East conflict to avoid undermining the US-led coalition against terrorism.
Mr Sharon insisted that his relationship with the US president, Mr Bush, had not been strained over the last month and denied he had described him as an appeaser comparable to Neville Chamberlain.
Mr Sharon was unrepentant over the Israeli policy of assassinating Palestinian militants alleged to be plotting bombings and shootings or having been behind such attacks.
Following the assassination of an Israel cabinet minister, Israel re-occupied Palestinian territory, saying it wanted to root out Palestinian militants: "Some of them we managed to arrest, some of them are not any more with us. People don't like the word 'kill'. They were removed from our society." Mr Sharon dashed Palestinian hopes that any renewal of peace negotiations would resume where they left off, with the offer on the table at Taba, Egypt, in January this year from the then Israeli prime minister, Mr Ehud Barak.
Mr Sharon said: "They will never get what he promised them." According to the Barak team, there was a deal that would establish boundaries for a Palestinian state, allow for return of some refugees and divide Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians. But Mr Sharon was adamant: "Jerusalem will be forever united and undivided as the capital of the state of Israel."