Palestinian President Yasser Arafat dismissed Israeli hints of steps to be taken if a peace deal failed as a sign that Israel was not committed to the U.S. backed "road map" in the first place.

Israeli media have said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could uproot some Jewish settlements and then draw the borders of a Palestinian state along the lines of a controversial barrier being built through the West Bank.

An Israeli soldier uses his mobile phone as he guards the illegal Jewish settlers outpost Givat Asaf near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 24, 2003.   [Reuters]

"This means they don't want to make peace. It is against the road map," Arafat told Reuters late on Monday at his battered headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Sharon also faced criticism on Monday over the reported settler plan during a closed-door meeting of parliamentary deputies from his rightist Likud party, many of them staunch supporters of the settler movement, a political source said.

Cabinet minister Uzi Landau told Sharon that instead of dismantling settlements, he should topple the Palestinian Authority, said the source, who is close to Likud lawmakers.

Sharon replied that Israel does "not want to take responsibility" for feeding 3.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which it would have to do if the Palestinian government collapsed, the source said.

Taking a step toward appeasing Likud critics, he said unless the Palestinian Authority reined in militant groups, no new peace talks would be convened, the political source said.

"There might be a situation in which there won't be any negotiations," Sharon added, according to the source.

NO DATE

Sharon added that the Palestinians could ultimately achieve statehood, but only if they halted attacks against Israel. The road map peace plan calls for a series of reciprocal steps leading to a Palestinian state in occupied land by 2005.

Palestinian women hold pictures of relatives being held in Israeli jails, during a demonstration outside the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 24, 2003.  [AP]

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie would hold their first summit next week, but the newly installed premier said no date had yet been set.

Qurie said that for real progress, Israel needed to end its reoccupation of Palestinian lands, remove military checkpoints around West Bank cities and let Arafat move freely.

Sharon told Likud deputies Israel was ready to make "painful concessions" for peace but said he would "not take steps for their (the Palestinians') benefit" just to persuade Qurie to hold a summit, the political source said.

Sharon pledged anew to continue building the barrier through the West Bank which Israel says is aimed at keeping out suicide bombers, media reports said.

Palestinians say the strip of concrete walls and razor wire is an attempt to draw a new political boundary through occupied land. U.S. President Bush has also urged Israel not to let the barrier prejudice negotiations.

In another setback to peace efforts, the spiritual leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas dashed Qurie's hopes of reaching a quick truce deal.

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told Germany's Die Welt in an interview released on Monday that before Israel withdrew from occupied land "there can be no talk of stopping the fight."

Earlier this month Yassin said Hamas was willing to discuss a cease-fire, and Palestinian factions have agreed to meet in Cairo on December 2 to discuss a truce.

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