Israel to retain large settlements, says Sharon

Israel must withdraw from the Gaza Strip, no matter how well Islamic militants do in Palestinian parliament elections a month before the pullout, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said today.

Mofaz spoke in response to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom’s suggestion that Israel consider calling off the pullout if Hamas militants win the July 17 vote.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon confirmed on Monday that the withdrawal would be delayed by three weeks until mid-August.

Today, he reiterated that Israel would hold on to major West Bank settlement blocs, where most of the 240,000 Jewish settlers live. “Settlement blocs will be part of the state of Israel and contiguous with Israel,” Sharon said.

Sharon embarked upon the unilateral withdrawal of soldiers and settlers from Gaza after concluding it was not in Israel’s interests to retain an enclave of 8,500 Jews among 1.3 million Palestinians. He has pushed ahead with it despite fierce opposition from settlers and their right-wing supporters in parliament, and the threat of intensified violence from Gaza militants after Israel withdraws.

Mofaz told Israel Army Radio today that “the disengagement will not be cancelled” even if Hamas, building on gains in recent local elections, captures a large chunk of the vote in parliamentary balloting.

“The disengagement is a complex, historic and heartbreaking move that puts the Israeli government to a very difficult test, but is vital to its future,” Mofaz said. “I think we must carry out the disengagement under any circumstances.”

Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and is sworn to Israel’s destruction, is expected to make a strong showing in its first run for the Palestinian parliament, but is not expected to rout the ruling Fatah party. It is honouring a de facto truce with Israel, but has rejected calls by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to disarm after the vote.

Shalom, who has been lukewarm in his support of the Gaza withdrawal, questioned whether Israel could evacuate Gaza if Hamas were to win the parliamentary election.

“Would there be any way to negotiate peace when their main goal is the destruction of Israel?” he asked. “Would there be any way to go ahead with disengagement?”

Speaking at the International Bible Quiz in Jerusalem, Sharon said that although the settlement enterprise is being rolled back in Gaza, it has allowed Israel to fulfil ”a very significant part of its dream”.

“Not the entire dream, but a very important part of this dream, which is significant both historically and in terms of security – this part of our dream is in our hands and will remain in our hands,” he said.

Major settlement blocs, such as Maaleh Adumim outside Jerusalem and Ariel, deep inside the West Bank, will remain part of Israel, forming a territorial link, he said.

Sharon has said the pullout plan would help Israel maintain control over large blocs of West Bank settlements. He has US support on this matter, with US President George Bush reiterating last month that Israel will hold on to large West Bank settlement blocs under a final peace accord.

The Palestinians reject this policy, saying it crushes their hopes for a viable, contiguous state.

In Moscow on Monday, international peace negotiators for the Mideast issued a statement affirming that “a new Palestinian state must be truly viable, with contiguity in the West Bank.

“A state of scattered territories will not work and emphasises that no party should take unilateral actions that prejudge final status talks,” the statement said.

On Monday, Sharon told TV interviewers that the pullout from Gaza and four small northern West Bank settlements would start between August 15 and August 17.

Sharon pinned the delay on religious sensitivities: The original timetable would have coincided with a three-week period in which observant Jews mourn the destruction of the biblical Temples in Jerusalem.

Many Jewish authorities have ruled that there is no religious prohibition for carrying out the evacuation during this period, so critics say Sharon is using the religious argument because the government is unprepared for the formidable task of relocating some 9,000 settlers.

The government insists it is ready.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat complained that the Israelis are going it alone. “We want to co-ordinate but we find ourselves waiting for the next Israeli dictate, the next unilateral decision,” he said.

Sharon said no decision has been made on whether to destroy the homes settlers are to evacuate.

“The only situation where we do not destroy them is if there is full co-ordination with the Palestinians, and that co-ordination is not yet complete,” he said.

The current official decision is to demolish the buildings to spare settlers the sight of their homes being taken over by jubilant Palestinians. But many Cabinet ministers think the homes should be left intact because destroying them would breed ill will, extend the pullout and cost tens of millions of pounds.

Israeli army bulldozers today removed cement barriers on a main road linking the West Bank’s largest city, Nablus, with the nearby town of Jenin to the west and the Jordan Valley to the east.

The barriers had been put in place in 2002, at the height of Israel’s military offensive against Palestinian militants. The road barriers, along with a network of army checkpoints, forced tens of thousands of area residents to take bumpy backroads and severely disrupted daily life.