Meir Shitreet says Israel will have to leave most of its Biblical heartland

web.israelinsider.com ^ | December 2, 2005 | Israel Insider staff and partners

[Esther Ruth]

Meir Shitreet says Israel will have to leave most of its Biblical heartland By Israel Insider staff and partners December 2, 2005

Israel will have to pull out of most of the West Bank and allow the Palestinians to establish a state, a Cabinet minister close to Ariel Sharon said in an interview published Friday.

In the meantime, "not a single additional house" should be built in the communities of Judea and Samaria ("the West Bank"), Cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit, who recently joined Sharon's new centrist Kadima party, told The Jerusalem Post. Israelis should instead settle in the outlying Negev Desert and Galilee regions, he added.

Sharon has not spelled out a detailed peacemaking plan, except to say Israel will hold on to large Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank in any peace deal and will not carry out additional West Bank troop pullbacks.

It was not clear whether Sheetrit was giving clues to what Sharon might do if elected to a third term in March, or whether he was expressing his personal views.

Earlier this week, another Sharon ally, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, said Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank could help determine where a future border would run -- strongly suggestion that Israel would eventually withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria.

If the barrier becomes the border, Israel would be annexing about 8 percent of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the sector the Palestinians seek as a future capital.

Sheetrit and Livni are among 13 members of the Likud Party who defected to Kadima.

In his interview, Sheetrit said that if Israel wants to remain a democracy with a Jewish majority, it will eventually "have no choice but to leave most of the territories and let the Palestinians establish a state next to us."

Sheetrit insisted, as has Sharon on several occasions, that Israel will not carry out any more unilateral withdrawals, like the one this summer from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

"We won't act unilaterally. The partnership is achieved through negotiations. The world won't sit idly by. The Americans are involved. The Europeans," Sheetrit said.

"A unilateral pullback is not a solution. It's running away. We cannot withdraw unilaterally. We cannot withdraw without a peace treaty, and we won't withdraw without a peace treaty," he added.

But if the Palestinians don't dismantle and disarm militant groups, Israel will not move ahead with peace negotiations, instead pushing forward with construction of the separation barrier, which effectively halts suicide bombings, Sheetrit said.

The barrier dips deep into the West Bank in some places to encircle Jewish settlements, infuriating the Palestinians who want the land for a future state.

Earlier this week, Livni told a conference that "one does not have to be a genius to see that the fence will have implications for the future border."

Mahmoud Abbas has so far been a disappointment, Sheetrit said, but expressed hope that after a Palestinian parliamentary election in January, the Palestinian leader will take steps to rein in the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.

"If they don't tackle terror we won't pull back," Sheetrit said. "He (Abbas) can gather the necessary courage, impose law and order, use his security forces the way he should, and eliminate terror. If he does that, he'll have a state very quickly."

The AP contributed to this report.

[kanecorp]

Nothing makes me sadder than seeing Israel surrender to the terrorists. As a Jew it is one of the worst things that I can imagine happening, second only to America surrendering.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[Sabramerican]

It's a shame Arafat didn't live to enjoy his success. And Nasser even.

But at least the Whabbis are still with us. As are their Lackeys.

[Alexander Rubin]

Let me second that thought.

[dennisw]

This idiot is revealing Ariel Sharon's exit strategy. So stupid tell your enemy your plans. And some say Jews are so smart and cunning?

[Sabramerican]

Sadder then both is seeing the US force Israel to surrender.

[Nachum]

Idiot.

[Noachian]

"A unilateral pullback is not a solution. It's running away. We cannot withdraw unilaterally. We cannot withdraw without a peace treaty, and we won't withdraw without a peace treaty," he added.

But, a pullback is still a pullback. Israel's enemies will see any pullback as a sign of weakness, and continue their assault on the Jews. Why should they stop? They lose little and gain much.

Do Jews really believe that a smaller Israel will be a more secure Israel? Have they learned nothing about the effects of appeasement?

[Esther Ruth]

The rightful owners are being forced into surrender because these thieves, and there are many...they all think it belongs to them now...and they all have different reasons why they think it is theirs... and they are ALL wrong, every one of them. It is not theirs and never will be theirs. No matter how they twist the Bible and it's verses around, there is no way they can claim at as theirs.

[Right Wing Assault]

The headline and the caption on his pic spell his name "Shitreet" but later they call him "Sheetrit". I guess he got a name change.

Reminds me of the guy who went to the judge and told him he wanted to change his name. The judge asked what his name was and the guy told him it was "Joe Shit". The judge said he fully understood and wanted to know what new name he wanted. The guy said "Pete Shit".

[Esther Ruth]

Wow! Didn't even notice that, dyslexia I suppose on the writer's part....yea that's it.

[Salem]

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[blasater1960]

I highly recommend www.deprogramprogram.com for the best analysis on the planet regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict.

No Spam, just a satisfied listener for years.

[judicial meanz]

This idiot is revealing Ariel Sharon's exit strategy. So stupid tell your enemy your plans. And some say Jews are so smart and cunning?

Couple this set of leaks with last weeks leaks about the EU wanting Jerusalem taken from Israeli control and Internationalized because of the Israelis being "unfair,etc, etc, etc," and you can begin to see the outline of the next round. It isnt shaping up to pretty.

[judicial meanz]

In reference to my post above, here is the link to the article about Jerusalem.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4470118.stm

[Thinkin' Gal]

Is is axiomatic that a Pali state set up in Judea and Samaria would be a detestable horror that would ravage the heart of the land and thus make it destitute. Not to mention desolate, without inhabitant... a Judenrein Judea, as it were.

The foul, profane idol in the holy place [holy land] - a Pali state standing where it ought not - is being set up through a covenant with death and hell, aka a Road Map that all the nations of the world are using to navigate their way into Jerusalem.

It's like the quest for a jackpot under the Big W.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

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[quadrant]

I agree that withdrawal from Judea and Samaria is a sad event. However, given the strategic and political realities with which Israel must deal, a withdrawal is inevitable.

One conclusion is certain: withdrawal will not lead to peace.
No one with half a brain believes that the Palestinians can erect a successful state on the West Bank. Nor is it likely that Palestinians will let loose their cherished "right of return." This new Palestinian entity will be populated with angry, unemployed, and armed young men. Sooner or later a revanchist minded group will seize control of the Palestinian authority and war will follow.

[Slings and Arrows]

"We cannot withdraw without a peace treaty, and we won't withdraw without a peace treaty[.]"

Here ya go, Lumpy - one Palestinian peace treaty: