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The US-backed ‘roadmap’ obliges Israel to stop settlement activity
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, August 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave the green light Tuesday, August 17,
to the construction of 1,000 new housing units in Jewish settlements
in the West Bank in an apparent move to placate right-wing opponents
of his Gaza pullout plan.
On
the eve of a crunch vote among members of his Likud party on his
ambition to bring the Labor party into government, tenders were
published for the new housing units in four of the largest West Bank
settlements.
The
publications came after the new housing minister Tzipi Livni had
“made the necessary inspections on the location of these homes”, a
source close to Sharon told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A
total of 604 of the homes would be constructed in the Beitar Elite
settlement close to Bethlehem, 214 in Ariel, 141 in Maale Adumim and
42 in Karnei Shomron.
On
August 3, Israel defied the US-sponsored roadmap by giving a new push
to its settlement activities by approving the construction of 600
new settlements in the West Bank.
But
shortly afterwards, Sharon ordered the tenders frozen after harsh US
criticism over an apparent flouting of the terms of the roadmap peace
plan which obliges Israel to halt all settlement activity in the
occupied territories.
According
to Israel’s Ma'ariv newspaper, the housing ministry received
instructions not to publish public tenders to avoid embarrassing the
Americans who are one of the four sponsors of the roadmap.
Political
Game
Sharon
needs to bring the main opposition Labor party into government in a
bid to secure parliamentary backing for his so-called disengagement
plan under which all 8,000 of the Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip
will be evacuated by September 2005.
Sharon
lost his parliamentary majority several months ago after traditional
right-wing allies baulked at the prospect of such a pullout.
The
disengagement plan has already been
rejected
by Likud members in a party referendum back in
May but Sharon has ploughed ahead with his plan regardless.
However,
Likud “rebels” will again try to derail the project at a party
convention in Tel Aviv Wednesday, August 18, when they vote on a
motion against any move to bring Labor into government.
Although
Sharon has made clear that he will not regard the motion as binding,
such a defeat of his political strategy would be immensely damaging
and could even lead to his downfall.
His
prospects of victory were not helped when Likud bosses decided Monday,
August 16, that the vote would take the form of a secret ballot,
allowing his rivals a chance to trip him up without being red-handed.
US
President George W. Bush has enthusiastically endorsed the
disengagement plan, saying it was “unrealistic”
for all Israelis to be withdrawn from the larger West Bank
settlements.
No
Respect
Commenting
on the move, Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erekat said
Tuesday that Sharon is killing off the roadmap peace plan by giving
the green light to some 1,000 homes in West Bank settlements.
“This
is a very serious development and will lead to the burying of the
roadmap,” Erekat told AFP.
“This
shows that Sharon has no respect for any of the commitments that he
has given to President Bush to dismantle the outposts and freeze
construction in the settlements.”
Erekat
said the move showed that Sharon believed he could hold onto the West
Bank as a trade-off for his plans to pull out settlers and troops out
of the Gaza Strip next year.
“Israel
is much mistaken if it thinks that it can hold onto the West Bank by
getting out of Gaza,” he added.
