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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Stupid anti-Semitic Headline Deleted |
Current rating: 0 |
by DAN "KRAPLICK with short tongue" Disinfo
(No verified email address) |
06 Feb 2004
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Olmert: U.S. knows Sharon determined to leave Gaza Strip
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press |
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday said that the Americans know that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is "determined" to implement his plan to take unilateral steps and that "there is no going back" from this plan.
Olmert made the comments in an interview on Channel One television.
Earlier this week, in an interview with Haaretz, Sharon said he had issued an order for plans to be drawn up for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip and three in the West Bank. This is part of the prime minister's "disengagement" plan, which sees Israel carrying out a series of unilateral steps, including drawing a boundary in the West Bank, in order to separate from the Palestinians.
Olmert returned to Israel after meetings Thursday in Washington with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rize to discuss Sharon's plan. Olmert said that in his three meetings he heard no opposition or criticism on the prime minister's plan to disengage from the Palestinians.
"There was a lot of curiosity to know details, the timetable, the various stages that haven't been formulated. I said to them that these were questions I couldn't answer yet," Olmert said.
Olmert said that he told the Americans it would take "months" for the plan to be formulated, and that its implementation would be done gradually, "but they know that the prime minister is determined (and) that there is no going back from the prime minister's stand in regard to everything related to unilateral steps."
When asked about the silence of other ministers in regard to Sharon's plan, Olmert said: "I am truly disturbed by the fact that except for (Minister) Tzipi Livni and myself, no minister has taken a public position."
"It could be that there are people who wake up in the morning and ask themselves what will be popular. What will the public support?...If there are such people, I say to them, you should follow Sharon, not only because it's right, not only because it's good for Israel, but because the people of Israel will back these steps, because the people of Israel want change, they want separation from the Palestinians."
300 Gush Katif settlers protest outside Negev ranch
Some 300 protestors from the Gush Katif bloc of settlements in the southern Gaza Strip were demonstrating Friday outside Ariel Sharon's Negev ranch against his plan to uproot 20 settlements in the next two years.
The Yesha Council held an emergency meeting Friday to discuss its response to Sharon's plan, details of which he revealed to Haaretz earlier this week.
Sharon wants U.S. approval to expand large West Bank settlement blocs that are intended to be annexed once a permanent peace agreement is reached in exchange for evacuation of most settlements in the Gaza Strip and a few others in the West Bank.
Sharon will justify the request due to the need to move some of the settlers from the evacuated areas to Ma'aleh Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion. The prime minister is to present his plan to the Americans during an upcoming visit to Washington.
Sharon is looking at several options and will present them to U.S. officials, spokesman Assaf Shariv said Friday.
The disengagement plan is still incomplete, Shariv said, adding that the details will be finalized in two to three months. Moving Gaza settlers to the West Bank is one of several options being considered, he said, refusing to elaborate.
Two U.S. officials - possibly Middle East envoys William Burns and Elliot Abrams - are to arrive in Israel in the coming weeks to discuss the plan with Sharon, Shariv said. Later in February or in early March, Sharon hopes to travel to Washington to present his ideas to President George W. Bush.
"We are doing checks, including that the [Gaza] settlers will be evacuated to the settlements that will certainly remain with us under a final status agreement, such as Ma'aleh Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion," Shariv said.
The road map, to which the U.S. and international community remain committed, calls for a freeze in the construction of all settlements regardless of whether they are isolated or part of a larger bloc.
Government sources in Jerusalem said receiving U.S. permission to strengthen the settlement blocs is one alternative being examined by National Security Council (NSC) Chairman Giora Eiland. Another option is formally annexing the settlement blocs, which would lead to Israeli law being imposed on them.
The sources said the previous U.S. administration had agreed that Ma'ale Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion would be included within Israel as part of the Clinton framework for a permanent agreement. "The current administration knows that we did not hold up the road map," the government source explained. "The Palestinians did, and there should be reward and punishment."
Another alternative would be to receive American approval to relocate the separation fence eastward to a temporary security line that would include more settlements than the currently planned route.
"The security line would be used until the road map's fulfillment," the sources said. "After the negotiations resume and when an agreement is reached, we would move the fence to where the border is defined."
The sources said Eiland, the former commander of the IDF Planning Branch, is considering other alternatives including the withdrawal and relocation of additional West Bank settlements, however, Sharon remains opposed to a "deep evacuation."
At a meeting this week with the Likud Knesset faction, Sharon referred to the evacuation of "a very small number" of West Bank settlements. Government sources said Sharon rejects a unilateral withdrawal from the Jordan Valley.
Sharon has ordered Eiland to plan the evacuation of most Gaza settlements, but not to draw the planned security line according to the borders prior to the 1967 Six Day War. Therefore, three settlements in the northeast corner of Gaza - Nissanit, Eli Sinai and Dugit - which maintain territorial contiguity with Israel would not be moved.
There has been much deliberation over the issue of the strip under Israeli control that separates the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian border in the Rafah area. Israel is obliged to oversee that security strip according to the peace treaty signed with Egypt, government sources said. However, it is very difficult to maintain security for soldiers operating within the 100-meter wide strip that is in a hostile area.
The U.S. administration has expressed opposition to Sharon's plan, since accepting it would mean admitting the road map's failure. However, the prime minister's bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, said he heard positive signals over the plan during his last visit to the White House.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has announced enthusiastic support for the Gaza evacuation, which he said will enhance the country's security and economy. Mofaz is also in favor of concentrating West Bank settlements in large blocs, which would make them easier to protect. He also opposes leaving the Jordan Valley at this stage due to the delays involved in planning such a move.
Mofaz believes it will be easier to defend Israel from Gaza-based terror if the IDF is outside the Strip. In any case, Israel would reserve the right to act everywhere against terrorism. Mofaz also proposes that Israel help strengthen the Gazan economy. During his tenure as chief of staff, Mofaz supported withdrawal to a security line in the territories, although he refrained from speaking openly about it.
Israeli boys walking near a watchtower in the Gaza Strip settlement of Morag on Thursday. (Reuters)
Related Links
* Op-Ed / Unilateral withdrawal in stages
* Analysis / Lining up his ministers like targets
* State draws up pay formula for settlers
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00:34 Olmert: U.S. knows Sharon determined to leave Gaza Strip
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23:49 Belgian minister meets Jewish leaders over anti-Semitism |
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Re: Stupid anti-Semitic Headline Removed |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 9
06 Feb 2004
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For what it's worth, this isn't Windy Wendy. Shitbag Jew-hating wretch, yes. Squirrel-chewing faux-soccer-mom, no.
@%< |
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Re: Stupid anti-Semitic Headline Removed |
by and
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
06 Feb 2004
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Just lovely. And so persuasive too! Don't sweat it DG, we'll get this spill cleaned-up soon enough. |
