"The prime minister intends to go to Washington with an offer of removing large chunks of settlements in Gaza and a smaller chunk in (the West Bank)," Likud legislator Michael Eitan told reporters after Sharon addressed a Likud meeting. "I have given the order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip," the right-wing prime minister told the Haaretz newspaper. "I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza." Sharon Drops Bombshell: Gaza Settlements to Go By Matt Spetalnick JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday he planned to evacuate almost all of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, dropping a political bombshell that stunned friends and foes alike. "I have given the order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip," the right-wing prime minister told the Haaretz newspaper. "I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza." Sharon, once considered the godfather of the settlement movement, later told his pro-settler Likud party the proposal he will take to Washington later this month will also call for removing a smaller number of Jewish enclaves in the West Bank. But he gave no time frame for uprooting settlements, one of the thorniest points of conflict with the Palestinians. It was the first time Sharon had revealed plans for such a far-reaching withdrawal from territories Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war, and sparked immediate outrage from settler leaders. "I am in shock," Likud legislator Yehiel Hazan said. Sharon's move appeared aimed at showing Washington he is serious about moving ahead with a disengagement strategy to remove some isolated settlements and draw a "security line" around others, absorbing large swathes of occupied land. "Usually when the Israeli government speaks about evacuation of settlements, it aims only at public relations," Palestinian cabinet member Saeb Erekat told Reuters. "If Israel wants to leave Gaza ... no Palestinian will stand in its way." SURGE OF VIOLENCE The surprise announcement came amid a surge in Israeli- Palestinian violence over the past week that has cast further doubt on the chances of reviving a U.S.-backed peace "road map." Despite the bloodshed, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said preparations were under way for his first summit with Sharon since taking office in November. Shortly after Qurie spoke, Sharon's words appeared on the Haaretz Web site, calling for evacuation of what he described as "problem" settlements in Gaza. His plan entails removal of all but two or three enclaves in the 360-square-km (139-square-mile) strip where more than a million Palestinians live in poverty. Opinion polls show a strong majority of Israelis willing to part with Gaza settlements. The largest concentration of settlers is in more than 120 enclaves in the West Bank. "The prime minister intends to go to Washington with an offer of removing large chunks of settlements in Gaza and a smaller chunk in (the West Bank)," Likud legislator Michael Eitan told reporters after Sharon addressed a Likud meeting. In excerpts from the interview, Sharon said his plan "has to be done with American agreement and support." "We are talking of a population of 7,500 people. It's not a simple matter. We are talking of thousands of square kilometers (miles) of hothouses, factories and packing plants," he said. "The first thing is to ask their agreement, to reach an agreement with the residents... it's not a quick matter, especially if it's done under fire," he added. Sharon had spoken in recent months only in vague terms about removing some of the more isolated settlements under a disengagement plan he has threatened to impose on the Palestinians should the "road map" fail. He has made clear, however, that such an arrangement would leave Palestinians with less land than they seek for a state. A Gaza settler spokesman called Sharon's comments "miserable" and vowed that the nationalist camp would work "to cut short Sharon's term as prime minister through legal means." In violence early Monday, a Palestinian militant who lost his legs and an arm to an Israeli tank shell a year ago battled soldiers who came to arrest him in a Gaza Strip raid that ended with him being killed along with three other gunmen. Some 10,000 mourners, including dozens of gunmen firing into the air, later marched in funeral processions for the four gunmen. "Sharon, prepare body bags. Blood for blood," the crowd chanted. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20040202/ts_nm/mideast_dc
Sharon = Jewish Bush. Its like all his Military and Other strategies are personal grudges and not something that would benefit the country as a whole. I mean he uses the same lame excuse to do whatever he wants to do in Israel.
"Three years ago he promised the voters peace with security and it has come to nothing. He has come to the conclusion that there is no possibility of a negotiated settlement but the present situation cannot go on. What he is talking about certainly changes the nature of the political game. There is a dynamism to it that will make it hard for him to backtrack." The Palestinians do not know whether to take Mr Sharon seriously. The Palestinian Authority's security chief, Jabril Rajoub, was dismissive yesterday. "I think Sharon is selling air," he said. Mystery cloaks Sharon's intentions PM's decision to pull settlers out of Gaza has caught both the left and the right off guard Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Thursday February 5, 2004 The Guardian If Ariel Sharon's unprecedented decision to clear all the Jews out of Gaza was intended to distract public attention from a burgeoning corruption scandal, as some of his critics allege, then it worked. The Israeli prime minister faces a police interrogation today over bribery allegations. But the political debate has shifted dramatically from whether he is on the brink of resignation to how serious he is about pulling the settlers out of Gaza. The wave of scepticism that greeted his announcement on Monday has given way to a growing belief that Mr Sharon may, for once, mean what he says. "This is a dramatic event, a dramatic statement, we cannot remain indifferent to it," said Yitzhak Herzog, an opposition Labour MP and son of the former Israeli president Chaim Herzog. "We are putting out feelers now to see how serious it is. If it is serious, we are talking about the most meaningful watershed moment in Israeli politics, which will oblige us to draw conclusions." The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, yesterday called the plan a "positive development," but added that closing the Gaza settlements should be the first step towards broader territorial concessions. "Withdrawal from the West Bank will also be required if you're going to establish two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace," he said. Taboo Over the past three years Mr Sharon has spoken vaguely of "painful concessions" in the search for peace. He even broke a taboo on the Israeli right by referring to the West Bank and Gaza as "occupied". But his pursuit of a military solution over negotiation reassured the right that the architect of the settlements would defend them to the last. Even when he first aired his "unilateral disengagement" plan two months ago - a proposal to pull out of the occupied territories on Israel's terms and leave a rump Palestinian state behind the controversial security fence - there were widespread doubts that he would follow through. Some thought it merely another stalling tactic aimed at persuading an increasingly disillusioned electorate that he still had a plan. But now he has finally started talking details. He caught almost everyone off guard when he dropped his bombshell, not least because of the language. "I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza," he said. The Israeli right was horrified. The left was uncertain whether to pour scorn or offer support, so it did both. Shlomo Avineri, former director of Israel's foreign ministry under Yitzhak Rabin, says Mr Sharon is a hawk driven by convictions about security, not religion, which permits greater political flexibility. "Three years ago he promised the voters peace with security and it has come to nothing. He has come to the conclusion that there is no possibility of a negotiated settlement but the present situation cannot go on. What he is talking about certainly changes the nature of the political game. There is a dynamism to it that will make it hard for him to backtrack." The political pressure rose sharply in recent months with opinion polls showing a sharp slump in support for Mr Sharon because he has failed to stop the terror. At the same time, alternative if private peace initiatives, such as the Geneva agreement, exposed Mr Sharon as merely paying lip service to the US-led road map. But, his son, Omri, also an MP, told a pro-Israel lobby group in Washington that his father was serious about unilateral withdrawal. "We have no choice," he said. "We are going to have to take unilateral steps. The Gaza Strip is a possible model for future progress. It is going to be a very painful and difficult move, but we are going to have to do it." The timing of the Gaza announcement may have been governed by Mr Sharon's trip to Washington this month to win White House backing for his separation plan. "He needs to go to Washington with some very specific things which look good. Dismantling settlements is good news," Mr Avineri said. The Palestinians do not know whether to take Mr Sharon seriously. The Palestinian Authority's security chief, Jabril Rajoub, was dismissive yesterday. "I think Sharon is selling air," he said. "It was (the former prime minister David) Ben-Gurion who asked Sharon: when are you going to stop lying to me?" But the prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, described the proposal as "good news" although to be judged by deeds not words. Mr Arafat, asked by the Guardian yesterday whether he believes Mr Sharon is serious, merely smiled and said: "Later." Mr Sharon is counting on being able to bypass opposition in his own party and cabinet by appealing directly to an Israeli public that sees separation as the best hope of security. The threat from the right has been weakened by Labour riding to Mr Sharon's rescue by offering a parliamentary safety net to force through his proposals if the far right walks out of his government. The Labour leader, Shimon Peres, praised the prime minister's announcement. Others in the party leadership are convinced little will come of it and that the bribery investigation remains the key to Mr Sharon's strategy. But even if he is to be taken at his word, a larger mystery remains. What does Mr Sharon intend to do beyond Gaza? Palestinians fear the "painful concessions" in Gaza are the price he means to pay for holding on to the bulk of the settlements in the West Bank. Together with the so-called security fence, that will probably leave the Palestinians with considerably less than the land marked out by the 1967 borders, dimming further the prospect of a viable independent state. If so, Mr Sharon may be as far as ever from delivering peace and security for Israelis. http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1141256,00.html
