Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's statements on the roadmap plan for peace in the Middle East.

Sharon said earlier Israel is currently not interested in the roadmap peace plan, adding that it is more interested in implementing the unilateral plan for disengagement with the Palestinians.

Arafat considered Sharon's statements "as not new," adding "He (Sharon) escaped from implementing the plan from the very beginning and he insisted that there are 14 provisions in the text of the plan needing to be amended."

Arafat made the remarks when he spoke to reporters at his besieged headquarters known as al Muqata'a in the West Bank town of Ramallah, following a meeting with Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds.

"The roadmap plan existed for us, for the Quartet Committee, for the whole world and for the Arab Summit and we would keep following it," said Arafat.

He said when the roadmap was presented to Israel and the Palestinians, "we accepted it without reservations, but he (Sharon)put 14 reservation."

Arafat stressed that any Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip "must be part of the roadmap and goes in parallel at the same time in the West Bank as well as holy Jerusalem."

"President George W. Bush had several times asserted that the implementation of the roadmap peace plan would bring both sides to have two states, one Palestinian and one Israeli living side by side," said Arafat.

Source: Xinhua