|
Sharon looks to 3-week Gaza pullout delay
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-19 08:51
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday he favors a three-week delay
in Israel's planned pullout from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements
this summer, ostensibly because of a Jewish mourning period marking the
destruction of the biblical temples.
A postponement could give the ill-prepared government more room to plan for
the withdrawal, but would also give Jewish extremists more time to organize
resistance.
"I'm positively inclined toward this. We simply have to make it as easy as
possible," Sharon told reporters during a train ride Monday. Israel TV — without
citing any sources — said Sharon had decided to delay the pullout; Sharon made
no announcement on Monday.
In this photo released by the Israeli
Government Press Ofiice Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gestures
during a train ride from the southern town of Ashkelon to Jerusalem Monday
April 18, 2005. Sharon on Monday said he is considering delaying Israel's
planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this summer by three weeks after a
top official said settlers shouldn't be moved during a Jewish mourning
period that marks the destruction of the biblical temples.
[AP] | Israel, meanwhile, announced plans to build
50 more homes in a West Bank settlement — a week after President Bush said such
construction should stop.
The White House was critical. "Israel should not be expanding settlements and
the Palestinian leaders need to act to dismantle terrorist organizations,"
spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Yonatan Bassi, head of the administration handling evacuation of the
settlers, suggested at a Sunday Cabinet meeting that the beginning of the
pullout from Palestinian territories be put off from late July to mid-August. He
noted the three-week mourning period many Jews observe before the day that marks
the destruction of the biblical temples — Tisha B'Av, which falls this year on
Aug. 14.
Bassi, an observant Jew, raised the issue after "an internal struggle and
talking to rabbis," said his spokesman, Haim Altman.
A Jewish settler adjusts a banner against the
Israeli government plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, in the Jewish
settlement of Neve Dekalim in the Gush Katif bloc of settlements in the
southern Gaza Strip Monday, April 18,
2005.[AP] | Sharon said he would put the proposed
delay to a vote at a Tuesday meeting of a Cabinet committee appointed to oversee
the withdrawal.
Sharon aide Asaf Shariv said the government had originally hoped to complete
the withdrawal by Sept. 1 — in time for settlers' children to start the
education year in new schools.
In the 20 days before Tisha B'Av, observant Jews don't shave, cut their hair,
listen to music or get married, but work is permitted. Jewish law does not
specifically prohibit moving houses during the mourning period, but some say
that would violate the spirit of the three-week observance.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted Tisha
B'Av is associated with many tragedies and expulsions in Jewish history and said
there were concerns about adding the Gaza evacuation to the list.
Responding to reports that the government was not prepared for the pullout,
the official said the evacuation could go forward as originally planned, but
additional time would be helpful.
The government has yet to build even temporary housing for the 8,500 settlers
to be moved and has just begun examining permanent housing sites.
Sharon previously had opposed any delay in the pullout.
Vice Premier Shimon Peres, leader of the dovish Labor Party, Sharon's main
coalition partner, wondered about the timing of his change.
"I'm surprised that it came at the last minute," he told Israel Radio by
telephone from Paris. "We knew all of these events beforehand."
Military officials involved in preparations for the operation said they
opposed any change in the timeline.
Tens of thousands of settler supporters are expected to flood the Gaza
settlements next week for the Jewish Passover holiday, and many are expected to
remain to resist the evacuation. A delay would give them more time to prepare.
Security officials have warned that extremists could even shoot at police and
soldiers, but settler leaders insist they will use only nonviolent resistance.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, Israel pressed ahead with settlement
construction despite criticism that such activity violates the internationally
backed "road map" and seriously damages prospects for renewed peace negotiations
with the Palestinians.
Yaakov Harel, spokesman for the Israel Lands Authority, said Monday that the
agency was seeking bids for construction of 50 new homes in Elkana, near the
Israel-West Bank line.
McClellan, the White House spokesman, said the United States would seek
clarifications, noting that Sharon just reaffirmed his backing for the road map.
Bush has indicated the United States would support Israeli control over large
settlements in a final peace settlement. But during a meeting with Sharon in
Texas last week, he demanded no new construction in the settlements.
Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, said the Elkana plan would
undermine efforts to work out a peace accord based on Israelis and Palestinians
having their own states.
"We urge the American administration that while they focus on the Gaza
disengagement they should not close their eyes to units being added in the
hundreds in the West Bank," he said.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
