JERUSALEM — Ariel Sharon told his stunned country Monday he was determined to reach a peace deal and end 36 years of rule over the Palestinians — the strongest sign yet that the prime minister’s endorsement of a Mideast peace plan may have been more than a ploy to deflect international pressure.
The speech marked the first time the veteran hawk, who had long argued that a Palestinian state would pose a mortal danger to Israel, publicly used the word "occupation" to refer to Israel’s presence in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The word is anathema to the Israeli right, which believes Israel has a legitimate claim to the West Bank and Gaza for religious and security reasons.
"To keep 3.5 million people under occupation is bad for us and them," Sharon told angry conservatives in his Likud Party in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio.
Palestinians claim all of the West Bank and Gaza for a state.
On Sunday, Sharon’s Cabinet conditionally approved the U.S.-backed "road map," a three-phase plane that begins with a halt to violence and envisages a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2005.
Sharon’s remarks indicated his surprising turnaround could be genuine. The ex-general was nicknamed "the bulldozer" for ramming West Bank settlement programs through successive Cabinets, and once argued that giving up even 13 percent of the West Bank and Gaza would endanger Israel’s security.
"This can’t continue endlessly. Do you want to remain forever in Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus?" he asked his party’s lawmakers, listing towns in the West Bank.
But in his remarks Monday, Sharon left himself a way out.
"What will happen if Palestinian terror continues? Nothing. Nothing will happen. The Palestinians will get nothing," he told the lawmakers.
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