Hardliners against 'road map'

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to ask his Cabinet today to back the U.S.-backed Mideast peace plan, but comments by some officials Saturday threaten its approval.

JERUSALEM - Israeli hardliners vowed Saturday to block a U.S.-backed "road map" for Middle East peace, with one member of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's party calling it "the most dangerous" peace plan ever presented.

The prime minister was expected to ask his 23-member Cabinet today to back the plan, and - despite the resistance - Sharon aides were confident of winning approval.

Sharon was reluctant to embrace the three-stage prescription for setting up a Palestinian state by 2005, and did so Friday only after Washington assured him publicly it would take into account a list of Israeli objections.

For their part, Palestinian leaders said Saturday they expect Washington to keep its promise to them that the road map would not be changed to accommodate Israel, though they welcomed Sharon's acceptance of the deal.

The Palestinians accepted the road map last month, and U.S. officials said Friday their reservations would be taken into account.

The plan's first phase calls for Palestinians to rein in militants and Israeli troops to withdraw from Palestinian towns.

Violence continued amid the negotiations for a settlement, with Palestinians killed by army fire in the Gaza Strip, one late Friday and the other on Saturday. Israeli troops also raided the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank and a house in the city of Hebron, arresting several suspected militants.

Sharon faces strong opposition to the plan within his four-party coalition, consisting of his Likud party, the moderate Shinui and two prosettler blocs, the National Union and the National Religious Party.

The plan "goes against the essential strategic interests of Israel," legislator Yuri Stern of the National Union said. Stern said his party's two ministers would vote "no."

Two ministers from the other prosettler parties were expected to vote against the plan, Israel Radio said.

Sharon was to convene Likud ministers before today's session to persuade them to support the plan, according to the Haaretz daily. Several senior Likud figures said they oppose it.

Gideon Saar, chairman of the Likud faction in parliament, called the road map "the most dangerous Middle East plan that was ever presented."

Likud minister Uzi Landau called it a "recipe for terror."

However, Shinui, the second largest party in the coalition, said it would support the road map.

Israel's elder statesman Shimon Peres called on Sharon to ratify the plan without preconditions. "This is the only international document for solving the dispute in our region which has won the support of the United States and the whole world, the Palestinian Authority and a decisive majority of the Israeli public," Peres said.

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