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Israel Legalizes Settlements, Spoils Peace Initiative
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Settlements have been snaking through the Palestinian territories
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, October 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) -
Continuing its violations of the internationally-backed roadmap for
Mideast peace, Israel granted Monday, October 27, "permanent
settlement" status to a number of illegal outposts in the West
Bank, a move denounced as "blatant" by an Israeli peace
activist.
The
move came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instructed his
foreign minister Sunday, October 26, to lobby other governments not to
support an alternative peace blueprint for the dormant roadmap.
A
senior advisor to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the decision would
allow the settlements to obtain grants for education and
infrastructure projects as well as making them eligible for protection
by Israeli forces, reported Agence France-Presse.
"We
need to give the 'minimum services' to these people who are on the
ground, especially for security and education," Ron Sheshner,
senior advisor to Mofaz on settlements, told Israeli radio.
"These
people must be able to survive and we will provide them a
solution."
The
radio said several of the outposts set to be accorded
"legal" status had earlier been dismantled by the army.
In
addition, the radio reported that Knesset's finance commission would
unlock Monday some 29 million dollars worth of funds to build
apartments in West Bank settlements.
Under
the terms of the roadmap, Israel is obliged to freeze settlement
activity in general and dismantle around 60 outposts in the West Bank
that have been set up since Sharon came to power in March 2001.
Since
the roadmap was officially launched in June 2003, the number of
settlement outposts has remained largely unchanged.
Around
a dozen were dismantled by the army in a blaze of publicity, but new
ones have been since been set up by settler groups.
The
"roadmap" envisages the creation of a Palestinian state by
2005 alongside Israel, but has made scant progress since its launch in
June amid a spiral of violence in the region.
'Blatant'
Dror
Etkes, of the leftist Israeli group Peace Now's Settlement Watch
program, said the move was a "blatant" breach of the
roadmap.
"According
to the roadmap they are expected to dismantle these outposts. Instead
what we are seeing is that they are being integrated," he told
AFP.
"They
(the Sharon government) are very committed to the peace process -- on
condition that they don't have to dismantle the outposts and end the
occupation," he scorned the government's policies.
Chief
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the latest move illustrated
that Sharon's government was determined to kill off the roadmap.
"Israel
is continuing to bury the roadmap," Erakat told AFP.
He
called on the sponsors of the roadmap -- the United States, United
Nations, European Union and Russia -- to pressure Israel to reverse
its decision, which he described as part of a wider aim "to
destroy the peace process and the Palestinian Authority and prolong
the occupation."
The
decision comes just four days after Israel also sparked accusations of
flouting the roadmap by inviting tenders to build more than 300
apartments in West Bank settlements.
Derailing
Peace
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Sharon described the alternative peace initiative as "illusion"
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Meanwhile,
the Israeli premier instructed his foreign minister Sunday to lobby
other governments not to support an alternative peace blueprint for
the Middle East.
Addressing
the weekly cabinet meeting here, Sharon again made clear his
opposition to the so-called "Switzerland Accord" or
"Geneva initiative" drawn
up by leading Palestinian politicians and
left-wing Israeli figures, his office said in a statement.
"Prime
Minister Sharon commented on the 'Geneva agreement' and said that
efforts must be made against the adoption of the 'Geneva agreement'
and the aid given to it by various European countries," it said.
"He
called on Foreign Minister (Silvan) Shalom to continue diplomatic
activity to this end."
Sharon
has said that the initiative, due to be formally unveiled in
Switzerland towards the middle of next month, is an
"illusion" and that the U.S.-backed roadmap is the only hope
of finding peace with the Palestinians.
A
foreign ministry spokesman said following Sharon's statement that
Israel would verify reports that certain European countries planned to
finance a campaign to promote the initiative.
"Once
we have the necessary information we will discuss it with our European
friends," the spokesman said.
Public
radio said that Sharon told the ministers that France and Belgium
planned to spend seven million dollars to promote the unofficial plan.
French
Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said last week after talks with
the initiative's chief architects -- former Palestinian information
minister Yasser Abed Rabbo and ex-Israeli justice minister Yossi
Beilin -- that the plan "complemented" the
"roadmap".
"This
initiative is welcome ... (and) an important document," the
French minister said.
The
Swiss government is also understood to have angered Sharon by
sponsoring the initiative.
According
to available details, the plan provides for shared sovereignty over
disputed areas of the holy city of Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem) and
gives the Palestinians 97.5 percent of the West Bank.
In
exchange, Palestinian refugees would waive their right of return to
areas now incorporated in the state of Israel as it was founded in
1948.
Palestinian
Killed
On
the ground, a Palestinian who was seen approaching a security fence in
the Gaza Strip was shot dead by Israeli troops early Monday while
another three Palestinians were wounded, Israeli military sources
said.
The
victim, whose identity was not immediately known, was one of five
Palestinians who crossed into a "forbidden zone" near the
Nahal Oz kibbutz, which lies on the Israeli side of the border, the
sources added.
The
other four members of the group were arrested, the sources added.
The
latest fatality brings the death toll since the start of the
Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation in September 2000 to
3,586, including 2,671 Palestinians and 849 Israelis.
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