JERUSALEM (AP) - A unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements could delay Palestinian dreams of statehood for many years, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in interviews Monday. Israel also is no longer bound by a pledge to the United States not to harm Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Sharon said. The White House said killing Arafat was "not part of the solution to the situation in the Middle East."
| Though lots of solutions become possible if Yasser suddenly bites the big one. |
Sharon gave wide-ranging interviews to Israeli daily newspapers and radio stations Monday, a Passover tradition. The prime minister has been accused by Israeli hard-liners of rewarding Palestinian militants by proposing to withdraw from Gaza and four West Bank settlements.
Sharon - in interviews with the Maariv, Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz daily newspapers - defended the plan, saying it serves the interests of Israel, not those of the Palestinians. "The Palestinians understand that this plan is to a large extent the end of their dreams, a very heavy blow to them," he told Haaretz. He told Yediot, "In the unilateral plan, there is no Palestinian state. This situation could continue for many years."
Sharon repeatedly has said the Palestinians would receive more land in a negotiated settlement. However, he insists he does not have a Palestinian partner, accusing Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia of not confronting militants.
Arafat said he welcomed an Israeli withdrawal, but only as a first step. "He (Sharon) has to remember that he has to withdraw also ... from the West Bank," Arafat said at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah.
| Yasser then suffered total amnesia when asked what the Palestinians were supposed to do in exchange, and then started to drool and roll his eyes. He was sedated and cleaned up with baby wipes. |
Palestinians say the withdrawal plan is an Israeli ruse to trade Gaza for a permanent hold over most of the West Bank. They say a withdrawal must be coordinated as part of the U.S.-backed "road kill map" peace plan, which envisions a Palestinian state by next year.
The prime minister said he plans to evacuate all 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank. A patrol road between the Gaza Strip and Egypt would remain under Israeli control for the time being, he said.Sharon said he initially would seal off Gaza after a withdrawal. "Until we see what happens, we will continue to have control of an envelope around Gaza," Sharon told Maariv. "The contacts between us (Israel and Gaza) will be like between two countries, selling and buying, but we won't have control over what happens inside.
| "Unless we see somthing we don't like." |
"But there won't be a Palestinian state in the disengagement plan. There won't be any such thing."
Sharon said Israel would not destroy settlements it evacuates. Israel intends to get the property evaluated by international organizations and already has raised the issue with the World Bank, he said.
| Maybe they could get the EU to buy the settlements, they seem pretty free with their money. |
Regarding Arafat, Sharon said three years ago he promised President Bush that Israel would not harm the Palestinian leader, but circumstances have changed. Asked whether Arafat and Hassan Nasrallah, chief of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, could become targets for assassination, he said: "Whoever aims to kill Jews, whoever sends murderers to kill Jews, is marked for death."
| Wonder how many newspapers already have Yasser's obit written? |
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