Israel to uproot settlements

[bemildred]

Hello?

Jerusalem - The Israeli government decided on Sunday to dismantle all settlement outposts which have sprung up in the West Bank since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came to power in March 2001, public radio said.

The move will see 24 settlements uprooted among the 105 wildcat outposts in the West Bank detailed by a recent report commissioned by Sharon.

Under the internationally drafted Middle East roadmap peace plan, the government is obliged to dismantle all unauthorised outposts that have been erected in the West Bank since Sharon took office in March 2001.

The so-called Sasson report concluded last week that government ministries had either turned a blind eye to or handed out millions of dollars to help finance and build scores of settlements on the occupied West Bank.

News24

[newyorican]

1. This will make Gaza disengagement...

look like a walk in the park.

However, I feel the "settlements" should be left intact for the new Palestinian state to decide the fate of.

[bemildred]

2. I don't doubt it will be "fun"

But I find it interesting as a sign that real "movement" is going on,
politically speaking.

Edit: assuming that it actually occurs, of course.

[Colorado Blue]

3. I think it's inevitable. And - hallelujah. nt

[Coastie for Truth]

10. I was told by a Peace Now member

these are the "house trailers on cinder blocks."

[applegrove]

4. I hope everyone makes it through without assassination.!!

[Amfortas]

5. I think it's a step in the right direction

but I'm surprised that ultimately such a tough decision is in the end made by a hawk.......

[Coastie for Truth]

6. Nixon (who I had a visceral hatred of)

made the opening to China. And he made his name by "Anti-Communist" Hysteria, and hysterically whipping the up sheeple in an anti-Communist and anti-Communist China crusade. And, yet, this McCarthyte and McCarthy acolyte (Joe, not Gene) made the opening to China. The Same Trickie Dickie who pilloried anyone who dare suggest opening to China previously.

Political lesson - sometimes it takes a wingnut to make a decision that his personal wingnuts from his side of the political spectrum would never accept otherwise.

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7. Yep, it's always different when you have the wheel too. nt

[Jack Rabbit]

8. Israel will have to make more painful moves than this

It is inconceivable that a peace agreement will be reached with the Palestinians that will allow Israel to guarantee the security of settlements beyond her borders. While there are those who say that Israel will not return to the pre-1967 lines, the new borders with Palestine will, nevertheless, approximate the Green Line. Swapping land on which settlement near the Green Line have been built for equivalent acreage elsewhere is consistent with Resolution 242 and is a feature of the unofficial Geneva Accord.

That would still leave many settlements outside Israel, including those around Hebron. The settlers around Hebron have a particularly nasty reputation and if there will be right wing resistance to dismantling outlaying settlements anywhere, it will be there.

[bemildred]

9. All these things are a drop in the bucket.

I'm just pleased that "appeasement" is back on the agenda.