Sharon stuns party, says Gaza settlements will go

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 03, 2004

Sharon stuns party, says Gaza settlements will go

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stunned friends and foes on Monday by saying he planned to evacuate almost all the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stunned friends and foes on Monday by saying he planned to evacuate almost all the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

"I have given the order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip," the right-wing prime minister told the Haaretz newspaper. "I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza."

Sharon, once considered the godfather of the settlement movement, later told his pro-settler Likud party the proposal he will take to Washington later this month would also call for the removal of a smaller number of Jewish enclaves in the West Bank.

He gave no time frame but Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he expected the plan, part of a strategy of disengagement with the Palestinians, would be implemented by mid-year if peace talks hit a dead end.

It was the first time Sharon had revealed plans for such an extensive pullout from land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. "I am in shock," Likud lawmaker Yehiel Hazan said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said it was "encouraging that Israel is considering bold steps to reduce tensions between Israelis and Palestinians."

But Palestinians and Israeli opposition legislators were skeptical.

"Usually when the Israeli government speaks about evacuation of settlements, it aims only at public relations...If Israel wants to leave Gaza...no Palestinian will stand in its way," Palestinian cabinet member Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

In a sign of difficulties ahead, Sharon narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in parliament when members of his ruling Likud party and two pro-settlement coalition partners stormed out in protest at the Gaza plan, taking their votes with them.

Source: China Daily/Agencies

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