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PM Ariel Sharon said he planned to take "unilateral steps" as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinians but he hadn't yet decided what steps to take.
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| By Ellis Shuman November 23, 2003 |
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the cabinet today that he planned to take "unilateral steps" as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinians but he hadn't yet decided what steps to take. Once he came to a decision, Sharon promised to bring the plan to the cabinet for approval. Sharon hinted over the weekend that the "unilateral steps" might include the evacuation of some isolated settlements if no progress was made in negotiations.
Sharon met this morning with Industry and Trade Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Justice Minister Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting. The ministers and Sharon will form a team to coordinate Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians.
In his meeting with the ministers, Sharon stressed that negotiations would be based on the "road map" peace initiative and concurrently on a number of steps Israel would take to advance the process with the Palestinians, Army Radio reported.
According to the report, Israel will work to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, transfer cities and towns to Palestinian security control, and possibly take "unilateral steps."
Media analysts suggested that Sharon's openness to making gestures to the Palestinians at this time was due to pressure from the Bush administration, the push for diplomatic progress by Shinui cabinet ministers, and also due to a drop of local support for Sharon, despite the relative calm of the last few weeks.
The Americans have been pressing Sharon to fulfill his commitment to remove unauthorized outposts in the West Bank and freeze settlement building. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer is holding talks with the Defense Ministry to compile a list of the 91 existing outposts in the West Bank, Haaretz reported. The Israel Air Force has begun filming West Bank outposts to track their growth, Army Radio reported. In addition, during his visit to Rome last week, Sharon met secretly with an American diplomat to relay progress on the outpost removal issue, Army Radio said.
"I have been thinking for some time about unilateral steps that will make things easier on Israel and will secure its interests," Sharon told Yediot Aharonot today. "I just wanted the public to know that its prime minister never stops thinking about how to get out of the dead end with the Palestinians," he said.
According to sources in the Prime Minister's Office, Israel's "unilateral steps" could include the evacuation of some isolated settlements if no progress was made in the negotiations with the Palestinians by next summer. Other isolated settlements would be combined into blocs of settlement inside the security fence's route, and settlers would be relocated to new communities in the Negev desert.
According to the plan, the settlers of Netzarim and Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip, as well as residents of some West Bank settlements, would be replaced by army units as a temporary stage.
Israel would also speed up construction of the security fence, including its eastern route parallel to the Jordan Valley. By removing and combining settlements behind the fence, Israel would be unilaterally setting its border with the future Palestinian state, analysts explained.
Parties threaten to bolt coalition
In response to the media reports of Sharon's plan, Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman (National Union) said, "The removal of existing settlements will force us to immediately leave the government."
Minister without portfolio Uzi Landau (Likud) told ynet, "This talk of unilateral withdrawals at a time when Israelis are being murdered on a regular basis only encourages terror."
Deputy Minister Yitzhak Levy (National Religious Party) said his party would bolt the coalition if Sharon carried through with a plan to evacuate settlements.
Labor Party leader MK Shimon Peres said Sharon would be judged by his actions, not his declarations. But Peres said Labor would back the government if it decided to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian ministers were skeptical about the reports of a possible Israeli evacuation of settlements. "We'll believe it when we see it," Palestinian Labor Minister Ghassan el-Khatib told Reuters.
"Such Israeli declarations are public relations moves because genuine moves are through the implementation of the road map," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said.
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