Sharon to share peace plan with Bush

Ariel Sharon

(CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's announcement that he will present to President Bush a new peace plan during his visit to Washington next week comes nine days after he outlined a three-point plan to an American Jewish group.

During an interview Wednesday on ABC's "Nightline," Sharon said, "I believe that I'll be presenting a plan, a serious plan, maybe the most serious that has been presented by now -- how to reach peace in the Middle East, how to reach peace between us and the Palestinians. I believe that that should be, that might be achieved in phases."

Sharon said the plan would include a physical buffer between Israelis and Palestinians.

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While Sharon did not lay out specifics in the interview, it comes days after he offered a vision for peace in an address by satellite to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

In that speech, Sharon proposed:

Referring to the recent Israeli battles with the Palestinians, Sharon said, "Once free of terror, we can move forward to implement the Tenet cease-fire agreement."

The Tenet plan, proposed by U.S. CIA Director George Tenet, urges Israeli and Palestinian security organizations to reaffirm commitments to security agreements.

Sharon first broached the idea of buffer zones in February, saying the Israeli government would establish them to achieve "security separation" aimed at protecting Israelis from Palestinian attacks. He offered few details.