Two Arab members of Israel’s Knesset are urging Arab countries not to normalize ties with Israel in response to the disengagement plan because such a move would mean rewarding Israel for the occupation. According to a report published Thursday in the Arabic-language newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi, which is based in London, Knesset members Ahmed Tibi and Mohammad Barakeh made the statements at a conference entitled “The Palestinian Problem and the Disengagement Plan” held in Abu Dhabi. Speaking at the conference, the two Israeli citizens stressed the need not to reward Israel - whether on the Palestinian, Arab or international front - for the disengagement plan because the plan means “deepening the occupation in the West Bank and imposing a siege from air and sea on Gaza.” The two also said there is no justification at this time for ties or moves toward normalization with Israel. Sharon refuses to say "withdrawal' from Gaza Knesset Member Tibi, who was once an advisor to Yasser Arafat, said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has succeeded in making the disengagement plan the only plan currently on the table, bringing him praise and thanks from around the world. According to Tibi, while Sharon speaks of “disengagement” from Gaza, he refuses to say “withdrawal” from Gaza, thus indicating his refusal to recognize the reality in which Israel is an occupier. Tibi also said Sharon presented a disengagement plan to the Knesset based on two stages, in which the second stage is, among other things, devoted to strengthening and expanding settlements in the West Bank, continuing construction of the separation barrier, and keping parts of the West Bank under Israeli sovereignty. Barakeh said that according to recent statements by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Israel wants to establish diplomatic relations with about half of the Arab countries at a time when Israel has ties with only two Arab nations.