Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is ready to turn over more territory to the Palestinians and accept an independent Palestinian state if elected to a third term, according to a draft platform of Sharon's Kadima Party published yesterday.

The platform could form the basis of the next Israeli Government. Polls show the centrist Kadima, which Sharon formed last month, has the best chance of winning March 28 parliamentary elections.

Sharon left the hard-line Likud Party last month to win a free hand to proceed in peace talks with the Palestinians. Many party members were furious with Sharon following his withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September.

Party spokesman Lior Chorev said the draft platform, detailed in the Maariv daily, was accurate and said the plan is expected to be approved by next week.

The draft calls for conceding land to the Palestinians as part of peace talks that will be a central focus of Kadima if it is elected. The negotiations will culminate in a Palestinian state, according to the draft. "The basic tenet of the peace process is two national states," says the platform.

"The Kadima Party believes the advancement of the peace process with the Palestinians is a central goal that it (Kadima) will act to advance in every possible way and channel in order to lay the foundations for the forming of the permanent borders of the state of Israel and to achieve quiet and peace," according to the platform.

It says the peace talks would be on the basis of the US-backed "roadmap," but rules out handing over any of Jerusalem to the Palestinians. The roadmap calls for an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, but says the final borders would have to be reached through negotiations.

The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War for an independent state. Sharon's Gaza withdrawal marked the first time an Israeli leader ceded captured land to the Palestinians.

Yesterday Israel also announced plans to expand two Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank despite a ban on such construction in the US-led roadmap.

The Housing Ministry published tenders inviting contractor bids to develop 150 plots for single family homes in Beitar Illit settlement. A further 78 plots were offered in Givat Zayit, part of the settlement of Efrat.

(China Daily December 27, 2005)