Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told a newspaper on Monday he plans to dismantle 17 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip without waiting for a peace deal with the Palestinians — his most detailed comment yet on the removal of settlements.
Sharon did not give a timetable, but told the Haaretz daily he has ”given an order to plan for the evacuation” of the Gaza settlements. He suggested it would take time to remove 7 500 settlers from the crowded strip, home to more than 1,3-million Palestinians.
Sharon has said in recent weeks he would take unilateral steps, including removing some settlements and imposing a boundary on the Palestinians, if there is no progress in stalled peace efforts by the summer.
Sharon’s plans were reported on Monday by the Haaretz website.
Haaretz columnist Yoel Marcus wrote that Sharon told him in an interview that ”it is my intention to carry out an evacuation — sorry, a relocation — of settlements that cause us problems and of places that we will not hold on to anyway in a final settlement, like the Gaza settlements”.
Haaretz said Sharon was likely to go public with his Gaza plans later on Monday. Sharon met with Likud Party legislators in Parliament on Monday afternoon, his only public engagement for the day. Reporters were barred from the meeting.
Zvi Hendel, an Israeli lawmaker and Gaza settler, accused Sharon of trying to deflect attention from various corruption probes against the prime minister and his two sons.
”I said several weeks ago that the intensity of the [corruption] investigations would equal the intensity of the uprooting of settlements,” Hendel told Israel Radio.
An umbrella group of Gaza settlements said it would try to topple Sharon, a patron of the settlement movement throughout his career.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said no decision has been made on dismantling Gaza settlements, and that he opposes unilateral steps.
”This subject has to come to Cabinet decision and Knesset decision,” Shalom said.
Leaders of the moderate opposition said they doubted Sharon would remove any settlements.
”Planning is not implementing,” said opposition leader Shimon Peres.
Sharon did not tell Haaretz when the dismantling would begin, but suggested it could take some time.
”It’s not a simple matter,” Sharon was quoted as saying about the possible removal of Gaza settlements.
”We are talking of thousands of square kilometres of hothouses, factories and packing plants. People there who are third-generation. The first thing is to ask their agreement, to reach an agreement with the residents.
”To move thousands of dunams of hothouses, educational institutions, thousands and thousands of vehicles, it’s not a quick matter, especially if it’s done under fire,” Sharon said.
”I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza,” Sharon added.
He said he would discuss the plan when he meets with United States President George Bush. Sharon aides have said the prime minister hopes to see Bush later this month, although US officials have said no date has been set for a meeting. — Sapa-AP