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Sharon: Israel Has No Plan to Hit Iran

(New York Times) Steven R. Weisman - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday that despite mounting concern in Israel over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, his government was not "planning any military attack on Iran" and would push for "an international effort" to deal with the problem. "I think that here it should be a coalition of democracies who believe in the danger, led by the United States, in order to put pressure upon Iran," Sharon told CNN. He added that he wanted it understood "that Israel is not leading the struggle" against Iran even though it was sharing information on the matter with the U.S. Much of the Israeli press has reported that Sharon wanted support for Israel's plans to expand settlements in large populated areas in the West Bank. Bush did not give such a green light, but he did add a sentence to his letter of last year saying a final accord between Israel and the Palestinians would have to recognize certain "realities" of the existence of these settlement areas. On Monday, Bush said it was "the American view" that they "must be taken into account in any final status negotiations" on Israel's boundaries. That wording was very satisfying to Sharon, an Israeli official said.
2005-04-14 00:00:00
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