Only US important, not W Asia quartet, says Sharon

‘‘Israel’s view is that the United States and Israeli vision are the only practical interpretations which could lead to peace in West Asia,’’ the statement said.

Sharon believed Israel and the US saw eye-to-eye on a programme to end more than two years of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed ‘‘in contrast to the position of the other quartet members’’, his office said in the statement.

The statement by Sharon’s office followed an interview to the United States magazine Newsweek made public on Sunday in which Sharon responded to a question about the quartet’s peace blueprint by saying: ‘‘Oh, the quartet is nothing! Don’t take it seriously! There is (another) plan that will work.’’

The quartet has been trying to devise a blueprint to end two years of violence since a Palestinian uprising for statehood began in September 2000 shortly after peace treaty negotiations deadlocked.

There was no immediate comment to Sharon’s statement from any of the four quartet members.

The United States, trying to muster a coalition against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, has decided to delay releasing the quartet’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan until after Israel’s general election.

Sharon’s Rightist Likud party leads in opinion polls ahead of the January 28 election.

According to Israeli newspaper reports, Washington helped dilute the language of a peace roadmap drawn up by the quartet in December. The latest document reportedly demands more of the Palestinians than it does of Israel.

In the Newsweek interview, Sharon reiterated his peace blueprint allowing for a Palestinian state with temporary borders if

‘‘terrorism’’ stops and turning President Yasser Arafat into a figurehead as part of Palestinian Authority reforms.

The Israeli leader said that once there was a complete halt to violence he would be ready to negotiate the final borders of a Palestinian state.

Palestinians have rejected Sharon’s peace vision as a sham intended to sabotage efforts to

broker a peace deal to establish a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands captured by Israel in the 1967 West Asian war.

‘‘His (Sharon’s) real plan is to sustain and maintain the occupation and settlement and the status quo,’’ senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. (Reuters)