Free Republic

As Palestinians prepare to celebrate Israel's pending pullout from Gaza, their leaders face the formidable challenge of proving they can run a territory peacefully. For any chance of winning statehood, they must dim the appeal of violence by bringing good government and economic hope to Gaza while obtaining a halt to Israeli settlement of the much larger West Bank, officials and diplomats say. "This is a test. We need to convince the world we deserve a state that would be a stabilising factor in the region. If we fail, history will not forgive the Palestinians," said Jibril al-Rajoub, security adviser...

MK Hendel charges “Sharon leading us towards civil war”New NU faction chairman says government should be immediately replaced. Minister Ezra warns "extremists will resort to violence". Knesset to discuss escalation of public discourse tomorrow. Uri Glickman and Avishai Ben-Haim MK Tzvi Hendel. MK Tzvi Hendel, who was today (Monday) chosen to be the Chairman of the National Union Knesset faction, told his fellow party members that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is leading the country towards civil war. “Sharon is crushing every democratic measure. If we do not want him to lead us down the path of civil war, a concentrated...

Jun. 28, 2004 0:19 | Updated Jun. 28, 2004 0:49Peres: Prepare for elections By TOVAH LAZAROFF Labor Party leader Shimon Peres called for new elections Sunday, on the night before his party was set to bring its first no-confidence motion against the government since the cabinet passed its disengagement plan last month. Labor last week voted against the government in a no-confidence motion on Sharon's economic platform filed by Shas, after abstaining on such motions this month. Today, in a move that returns Labor to an opposition party, it plans to put forward one of its own, also on budgetary...

The U.S. Senate yesterday endorsed President George W. Bush's positions on Israel, which state that it is "unrealistic" to expect Israel to pull back to 1967 borders and that Palestinian refugees must be settled in a future Palestinian state. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a similar resolution the day before. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the overwhelming support was one of Israel's greatest achievements ever. In a 95-3 vote, senators approved Bush's support for Sharon's disengagement plan, which calls for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the evacuation of isolated settlements in the northern West...

JERUSALEM; Israel's proposed evacuation of Jewish settlements and soldiers from the Gaza Strip would allow the military to continue to enter Gaza and permit Israel to maintain control over its airspace, seaports and border crossings, according to the first official text of the plan made public. All 7,500 Jewish settlers and the Israeli troops that protect them would be evacuated by the end of 2005, according to the document. Under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan, evacuated settlements would not be destroyed — as they were when Israel evacuated the Sinai Peninsula in the 1980s — but Palestinian leaders and militants...