Israel to dismantle some settlements

ISRAEL will seek to retain major settlements in the West Bank, but will dismantle those close to Palestinian towns and villages “wherever possible,” deputy premier Ehud Olmert said yesterday.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he is ready to remove virtually all the Gaza Strip settlements and several in the West Bank as part of a unilateral “disengagement” from the Palestinians.

The comments by Mr Olmert suggest that an Israeli pullback in the West Bank could be larger in scale than initially indicated by Mr Sharon who has said Israel will withdraw unilaterally and impose a boundary on the Palestinians if there is no progress on the road map peace plan in coming months.