Sharon: Israel Will Dismantle Settlements

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told angry leaders of his Likud Party on Monday that Israel will have to dismantle Jewish settlements as part of any peace deal and that he was prepared to act regardless of their criticism.

Sharon’s speech was his first appearance before his party’s hard-line central committee since he unveiled his plan last month to dismantle some settlements and unilaterally draw a boundary with the Palestinians if peace efforts remain stalled. He refused to back down Monday, despite a hail of boos and jeers from infuriated committee members who reject the idea of a Palestinian state and oppose any removal of settlements.

“The separation plans are mine and I will carry them out,” he said, staring at his critics. “I will carry them out.”

Critics remain skeptical of Sharon’s seeming conversion from one of the great patrons of the settlement movement and the concept of “Greater Israel” to a leader willing to make significant territorial concessions.

Though his rhetoric has changed, he has done little yet to fulfill his obligations under the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan. Many accuse him of trying primarily to placate the Americans with pragmatic-sounding pronouncements while playing for time in the belief the Palestinians will torpedo any progress before he has to act.

Sharon is also under investigation in two corruption cases.

“Whether Sharon speaks or not, it’s business as usual on the ground,” Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said. Before Monday’s speech, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said he had canceled efforts to schedule a summit with Sharon amid ongoing violence.

Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said Sharon was trying to lead the public “down a different road” that would lead to new boundaries and fewer settlements.

Sharon told the nearly 3,000 member committee that he remained committed to the road map, which would almost certainly require Israel to evacuate some settlements to make way for a Palestinian state. “It is clear that in a permanent peace accord, we will have to give up some of the Jewish settlements,” Sharon said.

However, if there is no progress toward peace soon, Sharon said he would order a unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians that would include moving some Jewish settlements.

According to Sharon, the main test would be whether the Palestinians would start meeting their key road map obligation of dismantling and disarming militant groups that have killed almost 1,000 Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks over some three years of violence.

The Palestinian Authority has instead attempted, without success, to persuade the groups to voluntarily end attacks.

“If the Palestinians continue to reject our peace offers … and remain in the camp of the enemies of humanity … we will disengage from them politically and militarily and prevent any contact between them and us,” he said.

Olmert told Channel Two TV he estimated it would be half a year before Israel would conclude there was no alternative to unilateral steps.

Labor Party leader Shimon Peres said the speech included nothing new.

“The continued rule of this government promises only continued confrontation and further deterioration of our standing in the world,” Peres said.

The Likud Central Committee, angry that Sharon’s policies might be too dovish, discussed proposals Monday to force him to clear every major policy decision with it. Another proposal would bar any lawmaker or minister who acts against the committee’s wishes from running again. Neither were voted on.

Earlier Monday, Qureia condemned the ongoing violence and put off plans for a meeting with Sharon that was intended to rejuvenate peace efforts.

Top aides of the two leaders have met repeatedly in recent weeks to prepare for the meeting, but Qureia said even those contacts have been stopped because of the violence.

In the past week Israeli soldiers have killed nine Palestinians, six in the West Bank city of Nablus. The latest death came Monday, when Israeli troops shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian violating curfew in Nablus. The family of Taj Saif, 17, said he was a junk collector shot while returning from a junk-collecting trip. Israeli military sources said troops shot a Palestinian who threw a fire bomb.

The last suicide bombing, on Dec. 25, killed four Israelis near Tel Aviv.

“I am sorry to say destruction continues, aggression continues, bombardment continues and I don’t think that in this situation that any (summit) meeting will have significant results,” Qureia told reporters. “We are not looking for a meeting that is a photo opportunity.”

Qureia also criticized the route of a barrier Israel is building, which is to dip deep into the West Bank in several areas, calling it “illegal” and “an act of occupation.”

Israel says the barrier of fences, walls, trenches and razor wire is needed to keep suicide bombers out. Palestinians see it as an Israeli effort to snatch land they want for a future state.

Israel has also been criticized for not fulfilling its own road map requirement to dismantle scores of West Bank settlement outposts – though the government in the past few days has signed orders to have six removed – and to freeze all construction in veteran Jewish settlements.

Following an appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court, the government agreed Monday to give the settlers 15 days, instead of six, to appeal the evacuation order, the justice ministry said.

Also Monday, Palestinian security forces in the West Bank town of Bethlehem said they had discovered and neutralized three 70 kilogram (154 pound) explosive devices found in a cave.

The devices belonged to the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a militia loosely affiliated with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party, the security officials said. Bethlehem is one of two Palestinian towns under the control of the Palestinian Authority and not the Israeli military.

Also, the Israeli military also said it discovered two tunnels in the Gaza town of Rafah on Monday. One tunnel under a home was used to smuggle weapons into Gaza from nearby Egypt, and the other, under a road used by the military, was to be used to blow up traffic, the military said.

(rn/dp)