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Sharon to pull out?

21:32 / 02.02.04

OK, you may have reda that Ariel Sharon plans to evacuate all the settlers in the Gaza Strip. A qualified YAY.
What makes me worry is that I'd like a good reason.
Who is putting on the pressure/paying lots for it?
Or (as the horrible paranoid thought that led to this post suggests) is he just clearing the ground for a nuclear test site. Brr.

22:08 / 02.02.04

Now that's a scary thought.

But, yeah, surely there has to be some BIG reason behind this kind of sudden decision that's the complete opposite of everything he's said and done in the past, and I think it's pretty unlikely that he's suddenly woekn up in the morning and decided "hang on, we don't really own that land, what are we up to for goodness sake? It's just not nice!"

Maybe he's just going to clear out all the settlers and fill it with fucking tanks and landmines instead.

01:33 / 03.02.04

Possible reasons from a Yahoo news article:

Opinion polls show a large majority of Israelis are willing to part with Gaza settlements, which have no security value, require a heavy military presence to protect them and have little of the biblical significance that draws Jews to settle in the West Bank.

Sharon also intended to remove about 10 of the 120 settlements in the West Bank, Channel Two television reported.

Maybe by cutting their losses in Gaza, which they really have no chance of holding even if they wanted to, they can grab more of the West Bank, while at the same time show that they are doing 'something'...

An AP story:

Although Sharon indicated he was referring to all the settlements, his spokesman, Raanan Gissin, said late Monday that three at the northern tip of the territory, close to Israel, would remain.

Sharon has been preparing Israelis for what he said would be unilateral measures in the West Bank and Gaza, including redeploying Israeli troops, uprooting some settlements and imposing a boundary on the Palestinians. Sharon has said he would go ahead once he concludes there is no point in negotiating with the Palestinians. Late Monday, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said the government was aiming for June or July to begin implementation.

This may actually be the start of some serious bad things... unless his unilateral moves quickly spell the end of his government... which I hope to hell would lead to a different government winning the next time around..

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:59 / 03.02.04

There's also the possibility that, as he has done in the past, he's just announcing measures he's never actually gonna take.

12:51 / 03.02.04

well he's getting a lot of shit with the financial scandal, and i believe many israelis feel that the gaza settlers are a bunch of twats whose stubbornness regularly causes the death of israeli soldiers. fat shaz is trying to win over these voters and be seen for once to be not just sending in the killing bombs at a tricky time for his reputation.

16:21 / 04.02.04

Agreement on the financial scandal; I think Sharon's trying to hang on to some form of power, as it looks like the winds have changed for him. Over the last year, he's had to deal with suicide bombers (underscoring the tragic comedy of his "Peace, with Security!" election platform), Israeli Army officer resignations and protests, little-publicized battles with Mossad, and a rapidly diminishing approval rating. Now he's got this financial scandal, and to top it all off, members of the Likud party are furious with him for the new initiative to remove the settlements. He's apparently publicly mentioned switching parties in the last few days. It sounds a lot like floundering to me. Hope some good comes of it.

(apologies for an abject lack of links/documentation. All this info has been culled from radio. Any conjecture is purely my own, but is not copyrighted.)

17:13 / 04.02.04

..and some members of the Labour party have said they would vote with the government for removal of the settlements, so if he keeps in line with that he might actually be able to hang onto power for a while... although that would depend on enough Labour members consistently voting with Likud, which I assume would only mean a matter of time before the government falls...

12:03 / 06.02.04

Aw, cripes:

Gaza setllers may move to the West Bank...

Israel may move to the West Bank Jewish settlers who would leave the Gaza Strip under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new plan to evacuate Gaza settlements, an official said on Friday. It is one of the options being considered," an official in Sharon's office said. Other officials have said the government is also considering moving Gaza settlers back into Israel and paying them compensation

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that in a visit to Washington expected later this month or in March, Sharon would seek U.S. approval to expand West Bank settlement blocs that Israel might annex in a future peace deal with the Palestinians. It said the prime minister would justify the request by explaining that West Bank enclaves would have to be expanded to accommodate some of the 7,500 Gaza settlers.

A poll in the mass circulation Maariv daily showed that 39 percent of those surveyed after Sharon unveiled the proposal on Monday were satisfied with his performance as prime minister compared with a record low of 33 percent last week. But with the powerful settlement movement already publishing advertisements in Israeli newspapers protesting against the proposal, Sharon's advisers put out the word that evacuation in Gaza could ultimately pour more settlers into the West Bank.

14:15 / 06.02.04

Hmmm. Pouring more settlers into an area protected by the proposed (and highly illegal) barrier wall. Making it imperative that the barrier be constructed, and land be annexed, to protect the displaced and homeless Israelis. Sounds like Sharon is making a tactical sacrifice here.

03:09 / 15.04.04

Speechless in rage....

Bush Endorses Israel's Plan on West Bank

In a historic policy shift, President Bush on Wednesday endorsed Israel's plan to hold on to part of the West Bank in any final peace settlement with the Palestinians. Bush also ruled out Palestinian refugees returning to Israel, bringing strong criticism from the Palestinians. An elated Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his plan to pull back from parts of the West Bank and Gaza, hailed by Bush, would create "a new and better reality for the state of Israel."

But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia called Bush "the first president who has legitimized the (Israeli) settlements in Palestinian territories. We as Palestinians reject that," Qureia said. "We cannot accept that. We reject it and we refuse it."

Arafat earlier called the idea "the complete end of the peace process." And Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said of Bush's statement: "This is like someone giving a part of Texas' land to China. If Israel wants to make peace, it must talk to the Palestinian leadership," Erekat said. Palestinian leaders had previously said they had been assured by the Bush administration they would be consulted before any endorsement of Sharon's plan.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sharon thought that no American president had ever made concessions so important to Israel as Bush did on Wednesday.

The Israeli leader said he would limit the growth of Jewish settlements and remove all unauthorized outposts on the West Bank. And Sharon said a security fence Israel is building to deter Palestinian attacks was "temporary rather than permanent."

...and to top it off...

Bush called Sharon's plan historic and urged Palestinians to match Israel's "boldness and courage." In his break with long-standing U.S. policy, Bush said it was unrealistic to expect Israel to disband all large Jewish settlements in the West Bank — or to return to the borders it held before capturing the territory in the 1967 Mideast war — in any final peace deal.

But Bush, in a news conference with Sharon at his side, gave a key concession the Israeli leader had sought, saying there were "new realities" on the West Bank since Israel captured the land along with Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war.

03:53 / 15.04.04

Israelis are willing to part with Gaza settlements, which have no security value, require a heavy military presence to protect them and have little of the biblical significance that draws Jews to settle in the West Bank.

then why in gods name did they need it in the first place?

15:37 / 15.04.04

Gaza, as I understand it, is the main area of support for Hamas. The West Bank, however, is by and large Arafat's turf. I guess Sharon figures a weakened PLO makes for an easier adversary than Islamic fundamentalists...weakened in the sense that Hamas has a growing following and influence among young Palestinians. He's trying to get Hamas to lay off the attacks while he concentrates on pecking away at their mutual rival, Arafat. At least, that's what I'm getting from this.