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'Road map' on Blair-Sharon agenda
By Robin Oakley
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Wherever else the so-called Mideast "road map" to peace may take him, Israel's prime minister knows the way to Number 10 Downing Street. Ariel Sharon is traveling to London on Sunday for his third meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. But lately there have been bumps in the route between Britain and Israel. Back in January, Britain didn't invite Israel to a London conference on Palestinian reforms. Israel tried to wreck the conference by preventing Palestinian leaders from traveling, so it had to be conducted by videophone. Britain has joined the European Union in condemning Israeli damage to the Palestinian infrastructure and imposing trade restructions on goods from Israeli settlement areas. But Israel's ambassador in London, Zvi Shtauber, says both sides now anticipate a new beginning. "Most Israelis feel rightly or wrongly, feel that the EU does not treat them fairly," Shtauber says. Israelis don't feel too comfortable with Europe in general. But they are happier about Tony Blair. "Tony Blair is considered as a friend of Israel. He has shown it. He is a traditional friend of Israel," Shtauber says. Analysts say Sharon has the chance to become Israel's General de Gaulle. Only he can win the backing of the Israeli right and nationalists for bold concessions. And in that, they say, Blair could be a persuader. "Whatever the UK prime minister can do to reassure the Israeli prime minister that Britain in particular and Europe in general is ready to be even-handed about this conflict, is not viscerally pro-Palestinian, I think actually might be conducive to moving the peace process forward," says Dana Allin of the International Institute for Stategic Studies. Sharon's itinerary calls for him to meet with Blair Monday evening, following a session with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. On Tuesday, Sharon meets with Conservative opposition leader Iain Duncan Smith and leaders of Britain's Jewish community before leaving London on Wednesday. Israel is looking for assurances that Britain and Europe will stop organizations like Hamas from sheltering behind charities to collect money for terrorism. And it sees one key way in which outsiders can help the peace process: "Insisting the Palestinian Authority must fight terror. Any dissent in this regard, any shortcuts, any ceasefire that substitutes a serious addressing of the problem will not do," says Shtauber. Progress on the road map has changed the atmosphere. Diplomats reckon Blair's meeting with Sharon will be less the repair job that seemed needed a few months ago and more a mutual stocktaking on how to move forward.
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