Sharon says more settlements could go
But he reiterated that Israel would keep major West Bank settlement blocs in any peace deal.
The Israeli Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said it wants to complete the withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank by September 4, rather than in mid-September, the original target date. The forcible removal of settlers from their homes is to begin Wednesday.
The deadline was moved up even as military sources raised to 3,000 the number of people they estimate have entered Gaza settlements to bolster resistance.
Also yesterday, a private economic foundation bought most of the greenhouses in Gaza settlements for €11 million and planned to hand them over to the Palestinians, said Yossi Beilin, leader of the dovish Israeli Yahad Party. By keeping the greenhouses intact, the Economic Cooperation Foundation can ensure employment for thousands of Palestinians after the pullout, said Mr Beilin, who heads the foundation.
Initially, the US Agency for International Development had been negotiating with the Gaza settlers to buy the greenhouses. However, the Palestinian Authority has said it would object to the use of government funds for such a deal, because it would be seen as paying compensation to the settlers.
Mr Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that "the settlement blocs will remain" in Israeli hands, reiterating his oft-stated policy. "I never replied when asked what the boundaries of the settlements blocs are - and not because I'm not familiar with the map."
Asked whether Israel eventually would pull out of several small West Bank settlements, he replied: "Not everything will be there. The issue will be raised during the final status talks with the Palestinians."
When Sharon decided more than a year ago to quit Gaza, captured 38 years ago, he reasoned that would make it easier for Israel to hold on to the major West Bank settlement blocs, where most of the 240,000 settlers live.
The boundaries of those blocs are in dispute, with an especially controversial plan being Israel's program to build 3,650 housing units in an unsettled area of West Bank land outside Jerusalem. Israel's determination to expand these blocs could cloud hopes that the impending withdrawal from Gaza would restart stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The Defence Ministry has modified its target date for completing the Gaza evacuation, which is to begin Wednesday, because 55,000 soldiers and police will be involved in the forcible removal of resisters - about 10,000 more than originally planned, security officials said.
In all, 9,000 settlers are to be uprooted.
US President George W Bush endorsed the withdrawal in an interview broadcast Thursday on Israel TV. "The disengagement is, I think, a part of making Israel more secure and peaceful," he said.
Tens of thousands of anti-pullout protesters filled a square in downtown Tel Aviv on Thursday night, vowing to block the withdrawal.
Settler leaders said they would send thousands toward Gaza next week to reinforce the resistance.
At Morag, one of the more militant Gaza settlements, crude holes smashed through the outside walls of second-floor attics were testimony to the illegal presence of reinforcements. The holes, and the ladders propped up underneath them, allowed access to the strangers who have come to the settlement to beef up the opposition.
The Palestinian Authority is anxious for a smooth handover that would prove its ability to control volatile Gaza after the Israelis depart. Militant factions, however, are trying to create the impression that they are driving out the Israelis by force and have been firing rockets and mortars at Gaza settlements and nearby Israeli towns daily.
In Gaza early yesterday, about 1,000 armed and masked Hamas militants trained to infiltrate and attack Jewish settlements. It wasn't clear whether this signalled an intent by the militant group to fire on settlers and evacuation forces during the impending pullout.
