Rome, Aug 15: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today said his government was committed to the so-called roadmap for Middle East peace but questioned whether the Palestinian leadership had the political will to defeat terrorism.
"We remain totally committed to the road map," he said in an interview published Friday in Left-leaning Italian daily.

Sharon said his government had noted "with satisfaction" a reduction in attacks against Israelis, but he warned Palestinians that Israel was ready to act against provocation.
"When we know however that that new attacks are being prepared, that new terrorist leaders are working to strike at Israeli civilians, we will act. Seeing that the Palestinian authority are not doing so," he said in comments published in Italian.
He questioned the ability of his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, to stop suicide bombers.

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"I don't know if Abu Mazen has the strength to respect the commitment to dismantle the terrorist groups.

"But I have to say that I don't know either if the Palestinian leadership has done all it can to renounce terrorism as a means of obtaining their political aims."

Recalling that the Palestinian leader acknowledged that Israel could not be defeated by terrorism, Sharon asked, "why then does the Palestinian leadership, which is committed by the road map to stopping terrorists and systematically dismantling their organisations, do nothing?"
Bureau Report