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Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3639205.stm
Sharon Changes Mid-East Equation
(BBC) Paul Reynolds - Mr. Sharon's plan has produced one of those Middle East moments when everything has changed. It does not mean that the conflict will not continue. It obviously will. But the terms of the conflict have been altered. The so-called roadmap to peace drawn up by the Quartet had already been exposed as unrealistic. It has now in reality been rolled up. The Palestinians will have to accept as facts two principles which they wanted to be the subject of negotiations. One is the permanence of major Israeli settlements on the West Bank. The other is that Palestinian refugees from earlier wars will not be allowed back into what is now Israel. Mr. Sharon is doing as a politician what he did as a soldier. He is trying to define the battlefield.