Sharon accepts road map to Palestinian state

A HINT of flexibility by US President George W Bush yesterday allowed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to accept the road map to Palestinian statehood.

The plan is an attempt to end 32 months of fighting, freeze construction of Jewish homes on the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state by 2005 on land Israel has held for 36 years. The Bush administration, hoping to spur Middle East peacemaking, pledged to “fully and seriously” address Israel’s concerns about the plan. “The United States shares the view of the government of Israel that these are real concerns,” said a statement issued jointly by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, President Bush’s national security adviser.

The statement stresses that there’s room to hear contrasting views on the so-called road map peace plan.