Does Ariel Sharon mean what he sometimes says? This riddle, intriguing for years on a hypothetical level, has taken on urgent significance with Israel's acceptance of the American-sponsored "road map" designed to produce a two-state peace between Israel and Palestine. Mr Sharon rammed the map through his right-wing cabinet on May 25th, leaving some of his supporters aghast by his deliberate use of the buzzword "occupation". "He might as well cross the road from his house and join the [peacenik] Women in Black demonstrating against him," one settler leader wailed. The progenitor of the settlements, said another, was about to destroy his own creation. The road map requires Israel immediately to dismantle new settlement outposts erected since March 2001, and to freeze further building in all the settlements.
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