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Israel to Invest Millions in West Bank

Posted on: Monday, 19 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

JERUSALEM - Israel will invest tens of millions of dollars in West Bank settlements even as it pulls out of the Gaza Strip and a few other settlements, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has proposed removing all settlements in Gaza, as well as four in the West Bank, and rapidly completing a separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.

Palestinians fear the move will strengthen Israel's hold over the rest of the West Bank, which they want as part of a future state.

Netanyahu announced his support for Sharon's plan Sunday, giving it a crucial boost in an upcoming referendum among the 200,000 members of Sharon's hard-line Likud party.

Netanyahu told Israel Radio on Monday that he decided to support the plan after President Bush announced that Israel would not have to absorb Palestinian refugees or evacuate major Israeli population centers in the West Bank in any peace deal.

Netanyahu said he also was satisfied with Sharon's commitment to finish the barrier, which snakes into the West Bank in parts to include some settlements, before the withdrawal begins.

Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel's commitment to the settlements that will fall on the "Palestinian" side of the barrier and said he would approve tens of millions of dollars "to invest in the settlements beyond the main fence."

Netanyahu's proposal would contradict the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which requires Israel to freeze settlement construction.

Sharon told the Cabinet on Sunday that he would forge ahead with his disengagement plan, while continuing to "hit the terror organizations and their leaders."

As part of that campaign, Israel on Saturday killed Hamas' Gaza leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

The Islamic militant group threatened "100 unique reprisals" for the killing as hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the streets of Gaza in a show of strength and fury.

Hamas chose a replacement for Rantisi on Sunday, but did not disclose his name - a sign that Israel's campaign against the Hamas leadership has put it on the defensive.

Israel killed Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin last month.

Hamas' ability to retaliate remained unclear. It has still not managed to carry out a large-scale attack in the wake of Yassin's killing.

The killing of Rantisi set off demonstrations - some of them violent - across Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in Arab countries.

An Israeli was moderately injured early Monday when Palestinian militants fired two Qassam rockets at the Jewish settlement of Nisanit in the northern Gaza Strip, the army said. Five rockets, mortar shells and anti-tank missiles were fired at Gaza settlements overnight but only the Nisanit attack caused a casualty, the army said.

A Palestinian who approached a checkpoint near Kissufim in Gaza overnight was shot and killed, Palestinian security forces said. The Israeli army also destroyed a house in an area near the Kfar Darom settlement known for exchanges of fire, witnesses said. The army did not immediately comment on either incident.

The military reported dozens of minor incidents protesting Rantisi's killing on Sunday, most of them involving Palestinians throwing rocks and firebombs.

Late Sunday, police shot two Israeli Arabs in Israel's northern Galilee region, killing one and injuring the other, police said. The police commander said the Arabs opened fire on a border police patrol in a politically motivated attack.

A police commander in northern Israel, Yaakov Borovsky, told Israel Radio anti-Israeli incidents had increased in the area in the past two months.

Many Israeli Arabs identify with the Palestinians in the ongoing violence, but they rarely attack Israeli security forces.

Israel rebuffed international criticism for killing Rantisi, including by several European countries. It said Rantisi - like Yassin - was targeted because he directed bloody Hamas attacks against Israelis and was planning more.

Many Palestinians held the United States responsible for Rantisi's death, pointing to Bush's statement last week in support of Sharon's policies as evidence it was giving Israel free rein.

In Israel, Bush's support was seen as an important boost that could help Sharon win support his plan in the May 2 Likud referendum. It also helped persuade Netanyahu and several other influential Likud ministers to back the plan.

Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, denied that Bush gave Sharon the go-ahead for the Rantisi killing during their White House meeting last week.

She told ABC TV that Israel has the right to defend itself, but that it is "extremely important that Israel take into consideration the consequences of anything that it does."

Netanyahu said an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza - where 7,500 Israelis live in one-third the crowded territory and 1.3 million Palestinians live in the rest - was inevitable.

"Most of the population in the state of Israel wants to leave the Gaza Strip. That's a fact. The question is what does a leader do in such a situation?" he said.

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