Military

DATE=05/06/02

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=NATHAN GUTMAN-SHARON VISIT

NUMBER=3-173

BYLINE=PAT BODNAR

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

/// EDITORS: THIS INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE IN DALET UNDER SOD/ENGLISH NEWS NOW INTERVIEWS IN THE FOLDER FOR TODAY OR YESTERDAY ///

VOA INTERVIEW WITH NATHAN GUTMAN-SHARON VISIT

BY VOA'S PAT BODNAR

INTRO: Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (Tuesday) is expected to present President Bush with a new Israeli peace plan based on the principal of a long-term agreement with the Palestinians and a regional conference as a vehicle for implementing the agreement.

But anyone expecting the Israeli government to begin political discussions with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to result from this Washington visit may be disappointed. That is the view of one man who is covering the story for Haaretz, the Independent Israeli newspaper.

Nathan Gutman is the Washington correspondent for the newspaper. He spoke with V-O-A's Pat Bodnar.

MR. GUTMAN: Israel will not negotiate with Yasser Arafat and is not ready right now to discuss a final status agreement. I guess what the Americans expect from the visit is exactly the opposite -- for Israel to agree that Arafat is a partner for discussions and that it is time to start with political discussions and not only security negotiations.

MS. BODNAR: Indeed, the U-S press is reporting that Mr. Sharon is expected to present President Bush with ideas for a long-term interim deal with the Palestinians that would include a Palestinian state. So you are telling me he is not going to deliver that?

MR. GUTMAN: He is going to deliver a certain promise for a Palestinian state, but we are talking about the very long term. The emphasis of the Sharon plan is that, first of all, we have to rebuild the Palestinian Authority, rebuild the relationship of trust between Israelis and Palestinians and get used to the fact that Arafat is not a legitimate leader of the Palestinian people. That is Sharon's view.

Now, he is willing to promise a Palestinian state, as he has done before, but that is only in the very long term. And actually, that does not consist of a pragmatic program right now.

MS. BODNAR: What kind of pressure is Prime Minister Sharon facing at home, with a reelection campaign next year and the Likud Party Central Committee meeting on May 12th, which is going to vote, essentially, on a motion that no Palestinian state would be established in the West Bank?

MR. GUTMAN: Prime Minister Sharon is trying his best to get the Likud Central Committee not to have their vote right now, or to do away with it anyhow, because he thinks that that will not be conceived as a productive move in the United States. So he is under pressure from his own party, even though he enjoys a very great majority in the Israeli public. So it is hard to see how his own party will damage that majority.

We have to remember also that Sharon is part of a national unity government, and he is restrained from the right and from the left. From the right he has parties that are not willing to negotiate with Arafat and are not willing to hear about a Palestinian state. On the left he has the Labor Party, which is telling him to negotiate with Arafat and promise the Palestinians a state right now, as Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has already done.

OUTRO: Nathan Gutman is the Washington correspondent for the independent Israeli newspaper Haaretz. In his meetings with U-S officials, Prime Minister Sharon plans to present a 100-page file that Israel says links Mr. Arafat directly to terrorism. The Israeli report alleges Mr. Arafat gave money provided by the U-S and the European Union to militants for attacks against Israelis. Palestinian officials dismiss the file as lies, forgeries and fabrications.