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Sunday April 27, 2003

Reuters

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 27 April 2003 — An international road map to Middle East peace will be unveiled as early as next week, once the new reform-minded Palestinian prime minister and his Cabinet are confirmed, a US official said yesterday. “The road map will be issued as soon as Abu Mazen is confirmed. It could be a just matter of days,” the official based in the Middle East said, using the nom de guerre of Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is widely expected to approve Abbas’ appointment on Tuesday at a special session in the West Bank city of Ramallah. A senior Palestinian minister said he expected the road map to be released Wednesday.

“This will be an important step toward reviving the peace process,” Nabil Shaath, the minister for planning and international cooperation, told Reuters in Gaza City.

Israel reacted cautiously. “Let’s see if Abu Mazen really gets in before talking about peace moves,” said a source in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office.

The United States and its so-called “Quartet” partners — the United Nations, European Union and Russia — formulated the road map in a bid to stem an uprising by Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under the plan, Palestinians would get statehood by 2005 in exchange for reining in militias. Israel would get security. Yet Israel has balked at the reciprocal measures required by the plan, blaming the Palestinian Authority for bombings and other attacks.