| A majority of Israelis favor removing more Jewish settlements in occupied lands beyond the 25 scrapped this week even as the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to consolidate the West Bank settlements. A poll published in the countryâs biggest newspaper Yediot Ahronot showed 54 percent of those surveyed want to continue Sharonâs plan to âdisengageâ from conflict with the Palestinians while 42 percent oppose it and 4 percent did not respond. Under Sharonâs pullout plan, Israel removed 9,000 settlers from all of the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank, lands occupied 38 years ago. It was the first Israeli withdrawal from land where Palestinians want a state. An even more decisive 68 percent of Israelis favor removing hilltop outposts which Israeli governments have not authorized, the poll showed. |