Road map to Mideast peace unfolded

International mediators presented a long-awaited Mideast peace plan today, just hours after Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in and after a suicide bomber linked to his political party killed himself and three others at a Tel Aviv bar.

US Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer gave the plan to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem, and representatives of the four parties in the Quartet of Mideast mediators delivered it to Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The so-called road map to peace was drafted by the Quartet, made up of the US, EU, UN and Russia.

The plan calls for an immediate ceasefire, a crackdown on Palestinian militants, an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian towns and the dismantling of Jewish settlements erected since 2001. A Palestinian state with provisional borders could be established by year’s end and full statehood within three years, according to the timetable.

“We’ve made our observations known to the United States as to how we view the road map,” said Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Sofer.

“It is crucial that we do not talk peace by day and have Israelis blown up by night,” he said. “We call on the new Palestinian prime minister to implement in practice what he has preached in public.”

Abbas was sworn in today and spoke out against the suicide bombing, saying, “We condemn this attack strongly.”

A militant group tied to Abbas’ own Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the attack, along with the violent Islamic Hamas. A spokesman for the Fatah-linked militia, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, said the bombing was a message to the new prime minister that ”nobody can disarm the resistance movements without a political solution.”

The bombing underscored the difficulties Abbas will face in disarming Palestinian militias – a key obligation in the first stage of the three-phase “road map” to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Dan Naveh said the bombing indicated that “there are still many factions within the PLO and the Fatah that are interested in continuing the attacks. As long as Abbas is in his position but Arafat continues to go behind his back and encourages the terror, we will not see a change.”

The United States and Israel have been boycotting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whom they accuse of abetting terrorism, and have welcomed the appointment of Abbas, who has criticised the 31 month violent uprising.

The bomber, who the Al Aqsa spokesman said came from the West Bank town of Tulkarem, struck on Tel Aviv’s seaside promenade, blowing himself up outside “Mike’s Place,” a pub popular with foreigners and just a few yards from the heavily guarded US Embassy.

A security guard stopped the bomber at the entrance to the crowded pub. The guard was badly wounded.

The pub’s owner, Gal Ganzman, his shirt covered with blood, said he was standing behind the bar when he heard the explosion. “I’m alive, I’m fine,” he said.

A French waitress wounded in the blast died, one of three people killed along with the bomber. Another 55 were wounded, police and hospital officials said. Twenty people remained in hospital tonight, including six in serious condition.

Since violence erupted on September 2000, 2,287 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 763 people on the Israeli side.

US State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said that ”there can be no excuse for the violence and terrorist attacks the Israeli people have been forced to endure.” She said the US goal is a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel.

In other violence early Wednesday, Israeli troops shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian near the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. The army said troops spotted a figure crawling near an off-limits army post and opened fire.

Abbas’ balancing act will include cracking down on militants without triggering civil war, easing powers away from Arafat without being accused of betraying a national symbol, and re-establishing trust with Israel without abandoning bedrock positions.

“I think that I can meet all my obligations in the government, for the sake of our people,” a smiling Abbas said after the vote on his Cabinet.

He also said the Palestinians accepted the road map – whose details have been known for months – and would not agree to Israel’s request that it be further negotiated.

Originally put together late last year, the road map takes on added significance in the post-Iraq war era, with the United States facing European and Arab pressure to turn its attention to the festering conflict here.

In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: The president looks forward to working with the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people as well as the Israeli government and the Israeli people to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East.”