JERUSALEM, Sept 10 (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the US-backed roadmap for peace with the Palestinians would not lead Israel anywhere for the time being, in an interview published Friday.
"We accepted the roadmap, with our 14 reservations, and formally the Palestinians also accepted it. But nothing came of it. There was no progress," he told the daily English-language Jerusalem Post.
"I came to the conclusion that we will get nowhere along this plan," the conservative daily reported.
But Sharon also argued that "if the Palestinians do what they have to do, it will be possible to move forward afterwards, according to the roadmap."
"There has to be a complete cessation of terror, violence and incitement, and only after that, when it ceases completely, can we move forward," he said.
The peace blueprint, launched by President George W. Bush in June 2003, was drafted by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
It calls on both sides to implement a series of confidence-building steps, including the Palestinians disarming militant groups and Israeli freezing settlement activity.
Arguing that he no longer had a negotiating partner in the Palestinian camp, Sharon has opted for a unilateral disengagement plan that will involve dismantling all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four others in the northern West Bank from early next year.
Asked about opposition to the planned pullout from within his own Likud party and among settlers, Sharon insisted that "I don't see the possibility today that a Jewish settlement can exist inside the Gaza Strip."
He said protecting the 8,000 Jewish settlers in Gaza "takes an enormous security effort," while underscoring "the strategic importance to Israel" of the West Bank.
In the same interview, Sharon said ties between Israel and the United States had never been stronger.
"Our array of ties and strategic cooperation between the countries is at a level where it has never been before," said the hawkish premier.
For Sharon "there no doubt that President (George W.) Bush is a friend of Israel."
"We do not interfere (in the US elections) ... In my opinion if John Kerry is elected, or if George Bush is elected, I am sure that the policy (towards Israel) will be that which was established by President Bush," he also said.
Kerry is the Democratic candidate to the November US presidential polls.
Bush, who said he backs the creation of a Palestinian state living alongside Israel, wholeheartedly shares Sharon's view that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is no longer a partner with whom to negotiate.