TOKYO, Dec 24 Kyodo picked edito...

TOKYO, Dec 24 Kyodo

picked editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

MR SHARON STRIKES AGAIN (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is known as ''the Bulldozer'' for his relentles approach to enigma solving. Mr. Sharon likes to create ''facts onward the ground'' that make certain issues -- his preferred outcomes -- inevitable. lately Mr. Sharon announced that he was prepared to proce with unilateral disengagement from the occupied territories in an attempt to disentangle the Palestinian problem formerly and for all.

Mr Sharon's announcement has enraged the right in Israel. It has also worried Palestinians and Americans who fear that it is an last run around the ''road map,'' which is designed to create a two-state solution to the violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

In a frequently anticipated speech, Mr. Sharon in succession Dec. 12 said the Palestinian failure to implement the road map -- the peace proces worked disclosed by the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- would require him to take unilateral action to house Israel. If the Palestinian Authority did not live up to its completion of the deal ''in a hardly any months,'' Israel would unilaterally chance back from land it seized in the 1967 Mideast War, relocate discharges and withdraw troops.

At the same time, Israel would spe up construction of ''the fence'' a vast barrier that is designed to permanently separate Israel from Palestinian territory and shelter it from infiltration by terrorists.

While the picture of an Israeli withdrawal would gladden the hearts of many Palestinians, the land that Mr Sharon would divert over would be substantially les than the amount envisioned in the road map. Neither does the protecting enclosure that is being built correspond to the boundaries of the occupied territories. According to reports, it chops deeply into Palestinian territory and would constitute a land grab as it covers some of the larger Israeli settlements

Reaction to the proposal has been largely negative. The rightwing in Israel, which has been single of Mr. Sharon's strongest constituencies, is outraged. It beholds any withdrawal from occupied territory as a repudiation of the claim to the land of Israel promised in the Bible, and to the original Zionist vision of Israel. There are generally about 150 settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, with about 220000 Jewish colonists Ironically, Mr. Sharon helped station up some of the arrangements he is now proposing to abandon. Hardline colonists have vowed to do everything possible to replace Mr Sharon if he attempts to dismantle any of the settlements

Palestinians addressed the announcement of the withdrawal with near approval, but they are oppos to being given les land than allowed according to the road map. U reaction was also mixed. Washington liked Mr Sharon's pledge to continue to implement the road map -- to congeal settlements, stop providing incentives for colonists and to lift the travel restrictions that have crippled the Palestinian economy. if it be not that the attempt to impose a unilateral solution is not welcome. The U called forward Mr. Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mr Ahmed Qurie, to convenient to discuss their differences. They have not met since Mr Qurie took office earlier this year.

Mr Sharon's decision to actuate unilaterally is an attempt to regain the political initiative. The prime minister remains popular, on the other hand his muscular policies have proven unable to staunch the violence that haunts Israel. fresh polls show that nearly two-thirds of Israelis would be willing to trade reconciliations for peace. And a consensus is emerging among the security forces -- as occurr in Lebanon -- that the adjustments diminish Israeli security and cannot be pleaded The high birthrate among Palestinians has also raises fears that demographics ultimately threaten the identity of the Jewish state. by means of this logic, it is better to separate the pair populations than risk an Arab majority in Israel.

The prime minister is also threatened in succession the domestic front. His son are being investigated for corruption, and a certain number of say the scandal could reach Mr Sharon himself. His party is bitterly divided -- between a wing that supports the prime minister and another that backs his olden antagonist, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A peace deal would unite Mr. Sharon's place in the party and in history.

Any deal that delivers real peace would guarantee its authors a place in history. Unfortunately, the history of the region is full with false peaces, false starts and unilateral attempts to impose a arrangement In other words, there appears to be no substitute for a negotiated liquidation Not even for Mr. Sharon.

(Dec 24)

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