Sharon skips US trip; new plan for Gaza

But with the Gaza plans’ fate unclear, the Arab world seething over what it sees as Bush’s pro-Israeli slant and US abuse of prisoners in Iraq, the timing for talks may not have been right.

‘‘It will take me another three weeks to put the plan together and then I will present it to the government,’’ a political source quoted Sharon as telling his bickering Cabinet.

Sharon later held talks with Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose support for the proposed uprooting of all Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of the 120 in the West Bank has been lukewarm. Israel Radio quoted Netanyahu as telling Sharon the Likud referendum was ‘‘binding for all Likud members, including the Prime Minister’’. The President enraged the Arab world by announcing at a news conference with Sharon, that Israel could not be expected to vacate all its large West Bank settlements or re-admit Palestinian refugees under any final treaty. Last week, in an effort to reassure Arab allies, he told Jordan’s King Abdullah that Washington would do nothing to prejudice final-status talks between the West Asia foes.

Bush riled Palestinian leaders on Saturday by telling an Egyptian newspaper that a 2005 target date for the creation of a Palestinian state may no longer be realistic. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat however, said it was ‘‘more than realistic’’. —(Reuters)