ISRAEL’S occupation of Palestinian lands must come to an end, Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, has told furious right-wingers critical of his move to agree to an independent Palestine.

Vigorously defending his decision to break new ground by agreeing to the peace plan known as the “road map”, Mr Sharon deployed rhetoric rarely used by Israeli politicians. “We don’t like the word, but this is occupation,” he told a stormy meeting of legislators from his own Likud party.

“To keep 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is bad for Israel and the Palestinians. This cannot continue forever.”

He had earlier said: “The moment has arrived to divide this tract of land between us and the Palestinians.”

Mr Sharon made it clear that if the suicide bombings of the Palestinian intifada and other acts of terrorism against Israeli targets continued, “the Palestinians will not receive anything”.

He again emphasised that there would be no progress if Israel’s security was threatened, but added: “We need to reach a political arrangement. I want to say clearly I will do everything to reach a political arrangement because I think it’s important for Israel.”

He was speaking the day after he won a slender vote, securing the backing of 12 members of his 21-member Cabinet for the aims of the road map, although not its specific details.

Sceptics believe that Mr Sharon’s rhetoric is tactical, and that he is gambling that failures by the new Palestinian Government will give him a way out. Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian Prime Minister, heads a weak administration and it is unclear if he can wield the necessary power to crack down on Palestinian terror groups, as required in the peace plan.

Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli Defence Minister, said that he doubted if the road map would succeed. “We are saying ‘yes’ to the process, even though the chances are not neces- sarily high,” he said.

The next sign of commitment from both sides will come in the run-up to a three-way summit with President Bush, now expected to be held in Jordan towards the end of next week. US officials declined to give details of the meeting, signalling that Mr Bush would like to see both sides make progress towards the synchronised steps laid down in the road map before he agrees to sit down with Mr Sharon and Mr Abbas.

Washington is looking to Israel to ease security restrictions imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and to the Palestinian Authority to move against terrorist groups. Both sides had been unable to agree on the issue when they met for the first time last week. Mr Abbas said he could not move until Israel had accepted the road map. The pair are likely to meet again before a summit with Mr Bush.

Further steps in the peace plan, such as the freezing of Jewish settlement building and the dismantling of Jewish outposts built since March 2001, are likely to have to wait for Mr Bush’s involvement.

The President has been cautious about plunging into detailed negotiations, and the speed with which he has become personally involved after the Iraq war has surprised diplomats.

The summit is likely to be in the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba, close to the border with Israel. Mr Sharon previously travelled to Jordan in 1998. The two countries signed a peace deal in 1994.

Egypt had earlier refused to play host to Mr Sharon, but Mr Bush is expected to hold a separate summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with Arab leaders from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to encourage them to pressure terror groups into a ceasefire.

Signs of momentum behind the road map continued yesterday when Syria sent Farouq al-Shara, its Foreign Minister, to a non-UN meeting attended by Israel for the first time in three years. His presence at the Euro-Mediterranean group meeting in Greece was interpreted as a hopeful sign for progress. Damascus has signalled that it is trying to please Washington after coming under US pressure to stop harbouring escaping members of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime and terrorist groups.

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