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Israel's road map reservations
Unofficial text as published by Ha'aretz (June 11, 2003 )
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet on Sunday
approved the "road map" - a three-phase plan that calls for a
settlement freeze and an end to terror attacks in the first stage, a
Palestinian state with temporary borders in the second, and a
final-status agreement by 2005. The vote was 12-7 with four abstentions
at the end of a stormy six-hour debate. Israel attached 14 reservations to the road map, which
the U.S. has promised to "fully and seriously address," but this
promise was not an assurance that all of Israel's demands would be met.
The following is the text of the reservations: Primary themes of Israel's remarks 1. Both at the commencement of, and during the process,
and as a condition to its continuance, calm will be maintained. The
Palestinians will dismantle the existing security organizations and
implement security reforms during the course of which new organizations
will be formed and act to combat terror, violence and incitement
(incitement must cease immediately and the Palestinian Authority must
educate for peace). These organizations will engage in genuine prevention
of terror and violence through arrests, interrogations, prevention and
the enforcement of the legal groundwork for investigations, prosecution
and punishment. In the first phase of the plan and as a condition for
progress to the second phase, the Palestinians will complete the
dismantling of terrorist organizations (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the
Popular Front, the Democratic Front, Al-Aqsa Brigades and other
apparatuses) and their infrastructure; collection of all illegal
weapons and their transfer to a third party for the sake of being
removed from the area and destroyed; cessation of weapons smuggling and
weapons production inside the Palestinian Authority; activation of the
full prevention apparatus and cessation of incitement. There will be no progress to the second phase without
the fulfillment of all above-mentioned conditions relating to the war
against terror. The security plans to be implemented are the Tenet and
Zinni plans. [As in the other mutual frameworks, the road map will not
state that Israel must cease violence and incitement against the
Palestinians]. 2. Full performance will be a condition for progress
between phases and for progress within phases. The first condition for
progress will be the complete cessation of terror, violence and
incitement. Progress between phases will come only following the full
implementation of the preceding phase. Attention will be paid not to
time lines, but to performance benchmarks (time lines will serve only
as reference points). 3. The emergence of a new and different leadership in
the Palestinian Authority within the framework of governmental reform.
The formation of a new leadership constitutes a condition for progress
to the second phase of the plan. In this framework, elections will be
conducted for the Palestinian Legislative Council following
coordination with Israel. 4. The Monitoring mechanism will be under American
management. The chief verification activity will concentrate upon the
creation of another Palestinian entity and progress in the civil reform
process within the Palestinian Authority. Verification will be
performed exclusively on a professional basis and per issue (economic,
legal, financial) without the existence of a combined or unified
mechanism. Substantive decisions will remain in the hands of both
parties. 5. The character of the provisional Palestinian state
will be determined through negotiations between the Palestinian
Authority and Israel. The provisional state will have provisional
borders and certain aspects of sovereignty, be fully demilitarized with
no military forces, but only with police and internal security forces
of limited scope and armaments, be without the authority to undertake
defense alliances or military cooperation, and Israeli control over the
entry and exit of all persons and cargo, as well as of its air space
and electromagnetic spectrum. 6. In connection to both the introductory statements
and the final settlement, declared references must be made to Israel's
right to exist as a Jewish state and to the waiver of any right of
return for Palestinian refugees to the State of Israel. 7. End of the process will lead to the end of all claims and not only the end of the conflict. 8. The future settlement will be reached through
agreement and direct negotiations between the two parties, in
accordance with the vision outlined by President Bush in his 24 June
address. 9. There will be no involvement with issues pertaining
to the final settlement. Among issues not to be discussed: settlement
in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (excluding a settlement freeze and illegal
outposts); the status of the Palestinian Authority and its institutions
in Jerusalem; and all other matters whose substance relates to the
final settlement. 10. The removal of references other than 242 and 338
(1397, the Saudi Initiative and the Arab Initiative adopted in Beirut).
A settlement based upon the road map will be an autonomous settlement
that derives its validity therefrom. The only possible reference should
be to Resolutions 242 and 338, and then only as an outline for the
conduct of future negotiations on a permanent settlement. 11. Promotion of the reform process in the Palestinian
Authority: a transitional Palestinian constitution will be composed, a
Palestinian legal infrastructure will be constructed and cooperation
with Israel in this field will be renewed. In the economic sphere:
international efforts to rehabilitate the Palestinian economy will
continue. In the financial sphere: the American-Israeli-Palestinian
agreement will be implemented in full as a condition for the continued
transfer of tax revenues. 12. The deployment of IDF forces along the September
2000 lines will be subject to the stipulation of Article 4 (absolute
quiet) and will be carried out in keeping with changes to be required
by the nature of the new circumstances and needs created thereby.
Emphasis will be placed on the division of responsibilities and
civilian authority as in September 2000, and not on the position of
forces on the ground at that time. 13. Subject to security conditions, Israel will work to
restore Palestinian life to normal: promote the economic situation,
cultivation of commercial connections, encouragement and assistance for
the activities of recognized humanitarian agencies. No reference will
be made to the Bertini Report as a binding source document within the
framework of the humanitarian issue. 14. Arab states will assist the process through the
condemnation of terrorist activity. No link will be established between
the Palestinian track and other tracks (Syrian-Lebanese).
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