Posted on 08/22/2005 7:03:50 AM PDT by Alouette
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon signaled a right turn Sunday, vowing to build inside the West Bank settlement blocs, even as bulldozers began mowing down Gaza's settlements.
"There will be building in the settlement blocs," Sharon said. "Each government since 1967 – right, left and national unity – has seen strategic importance in specific areas [beyond the Green Line]. I will build." Sharon mentioned specifically that "Ma'ale Adumim will continue to grow and be connected to Jerusalem," and that Ariel and its satellites would be a part of Israel forever.
Referring to the controversial E-1 plan that would connect Ma'ale Adumim to Jerusalem, and which the Palestinians argue would split the West Bank in two, Sharon said "this will not cause the cutting-off of Judea and Samaria. Solutions can be found."
Sharon was obviously aware that the road map called for a freeze of all settlement construction, and was cognizant that this construction could put Israel on a collision course with both the US and Europe.
Relating to reports Sunday that evacuees from Netzarim will be temporarily housed in Ariel, Sharon said he was not worried that this would hurt Israel's request for some $2.2 billion in aid from the US for disengagement-related development in the Negev and Galilee.
"We don't move anyone, people can go wherever they want," Sharon said, adding that Israel had an interest in settling the Negev and Galilee. Nevertheless, he said, "the Ariel bloc will remain a part of Israel forever, connected territorially to Israel."
Asked why people should believe him now, after he made similar comments in the past about Gush Katif, Sharon said: "This is something you will be able to see in a short time, that there will be no second disengagement."
Sharon, who has been very careful about delineating the parameters of what he considers to be the settlement blocs that Israel would retain in any final agreement, seemed to hint at what he had in mind when he spoke of the settlement movement's major achievements.
"Because of the settlements we can pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs" in Hebron, he said. If not for the settlement movement, he asked, "would it have been possible to renew the settlement in Gush Etzion; incorporate Rachel's Tomb inside Jerusalem's fence; or have Ma'ale Adumim and its satellites, Beit El, Shilo, the Ariel Bloc, or the security zone overlooking the coastal plain?
"We had a dream," he said. "Parts of it were realized, others were not." Senior Israel officials have consistently maintained that although the road map called for a settlement freeze, it had a tacit agreement with the US – which the US has never admitted – that construction could continue in the built-up areas inside the large settlement blocs.
In an obvious reference to his Likud rival Binyamin Netanyahu, Sharon – although he did not mention Netanyahu by name – said, "You can't frighten these people with the threat of terror all the time, you can't continue to scare them that there will be rocket attacks on Ashdod and Kiryat Gat. You can't scare this nation."
"We will not allow attacks and we will respond to attacks as forcefully as possible," he said. Meanwhile, Sharon referred Sunday to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's comments last week that everyone empathized with what Israel was facing. "It cannot be [about] Gaza only," Sharon said.
Sharon said Rice was "expressing the hope, which we share, that after the implementation of the disengagement plan, the momentum will continue and conditions for progress according to the road map will be created." He said that Rice made it unequivocally clear that the next step must be for the Palestinian Authority to stop terrorism and dismantle the terrorist organizations, especially Hamas.
Sharon said it would be impossible to move along the road map until the Palestinians carry out their commitments. "I have no intention of conceding on them one iota," he said.
Sharon opened the cabinet meeting by praising the IDF and police for the manner in which they carried out the evacuation – with "restraint and sensitivity." He also praised the conduct of the residents who "were in a very difficult and painful situation during the evacuation. I want to note that most of the residents – despite their pain and distress – behaved respectably and I also appreciate this very much."
He then went on to blast the hundreds of youth who infiltrated into Gush Katif, and the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza Strip (YESHA), which he said dispatched them.
He termed some of the acts of the infiltrators as "hooliganism that bordered on crime. This reflects not only on them but on those who dispatched them, incited them and handled them. This was not done in secret but in the open and it seems to me that we have not yet reached the end of this matter. I have spoken with the commanders and all necessary measures must be taken so that such phenomena do not recur." He said that the government would do whatever it could to resettle the evacuees.
"We have the possibility, according to plans which have been prepared for some time, to resettle all of them in a manner in which they wish to live. I also call on the evacuees, who are now in very harsh distress, not to listen to incitement, not to pay attention to plans for establishing tent encampments, which is a political act. And, there are those who are prepared to cause people to suffer in order to carry out their political plans."
Following the cabinet, Sharon met at Ein Hashlosha – just outside the Gaza Strip – with soldiers and police who took part in the evacuation operation. Sharon told them he received a number of telephone calls, faxes and letters from around the world expressing "amazement" at the manner in which they carried out the operation in extremely difficult conditions.
"You did something that was unbearably hard," he said. "Hard for the residents, hard for you, but essential for Israel."
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
This 2.2 billion Israel wants to move its own people in its own country could pay for about 1,200 miles of a very effective wall between the US and Mexico.
But giving free money to Israel is a higher priority I'm sure.
The issue of contrusting a wall along the Mexican border is not a problem of finances - its an issue of intelligence lapse or political cowardice.
I don't get it. Why move your people out of Gaza to appease the "Palestinians" and the rest of the world if you're going to turn around and thumb your nose at them by building new settlements in (on?) the West Bank? It makes no sense at all.
BTTT...
The US has clearly pressured Israel toward disenagement. A venture that puts US and Israel security at risk if it fails. It's appeasement, plain and simple IMO. But seeing that the US pushed Israel into it, should the US not contribute to the cost of Israel's security under the plan?
Secondly, thumbing his nose? The PA agreed to disarm the terrorist groups. They haven't done it and have said that they will NOT do it. Which part of that isn't thumbing their nose?
Thirdly, rather than accept the gesture (with which I vehemently disagree) from Sharon of dismantling the settlements in Gaza as a step towards peace, Abbas says that the Big Intifada had now begun. Which part of that isn't thumbing their nose?
Fourthly...it appears that it is the Israelis that are expected to move forward on the "Road-map". The Palestinians get a pass, as evidenced by your comment.
I think you misunderstood my comment. I think Sharon was stupid for ever pulling out of Gaza in the first place (which I thought would have been evident by the use of the " symbols around the word "Palestinians"). My point is that Sharon is an idiot. You either believe that you can achieve peace through negotiation or you don't (I don't). It appears that Sharon does, which he appears to have indicated by handing back Gaza. That's why this story makes no sense to me.
It's time to bring Netanyahu back.
I can't help but think that new settlers might be a little gun shy about moving into new housing in the West Bank after Sharon pulled the rug out from those in Gaza.
Although on second reading it is more clear that these are not "new" settlements. However, the "Palestinians" and their supporters won't see it that way.
Israel's future is tied to our own. More so even than the border with Mexico.
Building the wall isn't a matter of money. It's a matter of political will, which is lacking. It would be a symbolically unpopular decision. I can understand that, though I think it's necessary to stem illegal immigration.
But the U.S. pressured and convined Israel to disengage and said they'd pick up part of the tab in thanks. This is them keeping their word. Also, this will hopefully move people towards peace in the middle east.
I think that I did misunderstand your comment...we're on the same side of this issue.
I have conceoled myself with the thought that Sharon is creating defensible lines because he knows that a full scale war is in the offing.
Sharon has been so wrong on this issue, it's difficult to know where to start. He should have given the Palestinians a week to get the hell out of Greater Israel - including Gaza and the West Bank - and that's that.
Regards, Ivan
Did you ever look at a map of the areas in question?
Arik, you are nothing but a lying weasel. You are out.
I opposed the Gaza expulsion vociferously. But in the larger picture, Gaza means nothing; Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria mean everything. The West Bank is the home territory of the Jewish People.
If Sharon is not just blowing smoke here, he can start to win the Israeli people (and me) back to his side.
I thought the Gaza expulsion would just lead to an immediate evacuation of settlements on the West Bank. Is this not true?
I've been wondering, what are the benchmarks that show that the Palesites have kept up their end of the bargain? Whenever I hear anyone talk of these things, I always hear very concrete terms for the Israelis -- be out of this settlement by this date, etc... But for the palesite, it is "dismantle terrorist infrastructure", "establish civilian control", things like that that can't be measured.
I don't like it. Not one bit.
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