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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/15/international/middleeast/15cnd-mide.html
Israel Willing to Return to "Roadmap"
(New York Times) Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called Wednesday for both the Palestinians and the Syrians to show they are ready for peace with Israel. After the Palestinian elections on Jan. 9, Shalom said, Israel would be open to a new conversation with the Palestinians and the Americans about how to move toward peace based on the Roadmap plan. While encouraged by PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas's statements urging Palestinians to halt violence against Israelis, Israeli officials also note that violence has not stopped and that Abbas will need time to reshape the Palestinian security forces, let alone confront radical Islamic groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. One Israeli official said Prime Minister Sharon does not want to be "trapped" into a discussion of a Palestinian state, leaping to the second stage of the road map, before Palestinians meet their commitments to stopping violence and incitement to violence in the first stage.