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Sharon Plans To Annex Half The West Bank: Israeli Minister
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Sharon
plans to annex West Bank land
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LONDON,
April 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon is planning the annexation of half of the West
Bank under an unannounced plan for the Palestinian territories that he
is drawing up with close advisers, the Israeli minister of transport,
Ephraim Sneh told the British daily The Telegraph.
According
to the British daily newspaper, this indicates that Sharon wants to
see the creation of a divided and weakened Palestinian entity with far
less land than promised under previous peace plans.
Sneh,
who is a Labor member in Sharon’s coalition government, said
"As far as I know, the strategy is to annex 50 per cent of the
West Bank [for Israel] and this is incompatible with a two-state
solution. It is not realistic."
However,
Sharon will wait for a regional peace conference to discuss this
proposal for Palestinian territory, a senior Sharon aide, Danny
Ayalon, said.
These
remarks come more than two weeks after Israel launched a widespread
military offensive in the West Bank.
Last
week, Sharon called for an international so-called peace conference to
address Israeli-Palestinian issues, but
demanded the exclusion of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
This
unannounced plan will deepen the debate about Sharon's intentions to
create a fraction of the Palestinian state outlined in former
so-called peace talks. Sneh indicated that rifts over a future
political settlement could cause Sharon’s coalition to collapse.
It
will also cause speculation that Sharon is hoping to buy time in order
to maintain the status quo and retain most Jewish settlements in the
West Bank, The Telegraph reported.
Meanwhile,
Israel’s Finance Minister Silvan Shalom said that since September
2000 the intifada has cost the Israeli economy an estimated $5 billion
in lost tourism and other businesses, the Business Week online
reported.
“The
latest Israeli offensive has increased costs for the army, police, and
the security forces by $1 billion. We're now drawing up a supplemental
budget of $800 million for the army and security forces,” Shalom
said.
“It
will cost us [even more] in the long term. Foreign investors and
tourists aren't coming here. People are afraid to go to restaurants
and malls, which affects the economy very badly. This leads to higher
unemployment and an even deeper recession.”
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