Disengagement has been a remarkable success, killing off Geneva and its
siblings, now killing off the Roadmap, as well as roping in "mainstream"
parts of Israel's "peace movement" to be collaborators with Sharon. It
also succeeded in disengaging opposition to the path of the wall,
legitimizing a continued hold on the west bank, legitimizing thousands
more housing units in the west bank, legitimizing intensified targeted
assassinations, land grabs, and house demolitions. It also helped
neutralize international opposition to the wall. All this with just a
plan, and not one settler actually removed. Once the wall is further
along, all Sharon will need is an excuse to kill the disengagement plan
itself. He will then have completely killed off prospects for peace,
leaving in place what is his strength and Israel's strength, the military
and the completed wall and leaving behind a discredited peace movement.
The peace movement should retain its independence by ending support for
disengagement and calling for ending the occupation and bringing all
soldiers and settlers within Israel's pre-1967 boundaries now.
Jimmy
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Albert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: BTvS Advocacy and Public Policy Comm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 13:20:43 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [Btvs-app] End of the Road Map
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hi,
Just to add to what Mike posted, today's comments by Sharon
should come as no surprise. Sharon has been laying the groundwork to
kill
off the Road Map for sometime especially with the announcement that they
are expanding WB settlements. Today's interview of Sharon with Yediot
Ahronot is putting the final nail in the Road Map's coffin. I'm sure the
Bush Administration will not even mourn the passing the Road Map - not in
an election year. (Below is the AP's reporting of the Yediot interview.)
L'Shanah Tovah,
David
-----------------
September 15, 2004, Associated Press
Sharon Doesn't Plan to Follow 'Road Map'
By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Israel will not follow the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan
and could remain in much of the West Bank for an extended period after it
withdraws from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a
newspaper interview published Wednesday.
Sharon's comments were his most detailed yet on his long-term vision for
the region. Palestinian officials said the remarks confirmed their fears
that Israel plans to draw its own borders and keep a large chunk of the
West Bank, rather than negotiate a peace deal with the Palestinians, as
envisioned by the road map.
In violence Wednesday, 10 Palestinians were killed in clashes with
Israeli
troops in two West Bank towns. Among the dead were at least six fugitives
and an 11-year-old girl, Palestinian hospital officials said.
Sharon's plan of "unilateral disengagement" from the Palestinians
Police said they are investigating death threats against the prime
minister.
On Tuesday, senior Cabinet ministers approved the payment of cash
advances
to settlers who leave their homes ahead of a September 2005 deadline
Settler families could get more than $100,000 each as a down payment.
Yonathan Bassi, the head of the government agency making the compensation
payments, told the Haaretz daily that about 100 families have already
applied.
The government hopes the money will entice large numbers of settlers to
leave voluntarily, and make it easier for troops to evacuate those
remaining.
In an interview with the Yediot Ahronot newspaper published Wednesday,
Sharon said that once Israel withdraws from Gaza and the four West Bank
settlements, "it is very possible ... there will be a long period when
nothing else happens."
He said that as long as there is no significant shift in the Palestinian
leadership and policy, "Israel will continue its war on terrorism, and
will stay in the territories (of the West Bank) that will remain after
the
implementation of disengagement."
The road map was adopted by Israel and the Palestinians last year, but
never got off the ground. The plan envisioned a Palestinian state by
2005,
but did not spell out its borders.
U.S. officials have said, however, that Israel's occupation of the West
Bank and Gaza must end. President Bush has since said that it would be
"unrealistic" to expect Israel to remove large Israeli population centers
in the West Bank Sharon said he will abide by his disengagement plan, not
the road map.
Asked by Yediot how disengagement differs from proposals by a former
Israeli opposition leader, Amram Mitzna, to withdraw from Gaza to break
the stalemate with the Palestinians, Sharon said: "Mitzna suggested
something different ... to continue dismantling settlements based on the
road map.
"This would have brought Israel to a most difficult situation. I didn't
agree to this. Today, we are also not following the road map. I am not
ready for this," he said.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said Sharon confirmed
Palestinian
fears that the disengagement plan is a ploy to cement Israel's control
over large areas of the West Bank. U.S. and European Union officials have
assured the Palestinians that they would only back disengagement as part
of the road map.
"Sharon's intention is to destroy the road map and to dictate his
long-term interim solution of Gaza as a prison and 40 percent of the West
Bank within a wall, and this will not fly," Erekat said.
According to polls published Wednesday in Yediot and Maariv dailies, 58
percent of Israelis support Sharon's disengagement plan, and about
one-third oppose it. Both surveys had error margins of 4.4 percentage
points.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, troops surrounded a building where
fugitives were holed up, and a gun battle erupted, Palestinian witnesses
said. Five armed men from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group
with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, were killed in the fighting.
Hospital officials initially said six gunmen were killed.
The mother of one of the fugitives said her son had told her by cell
phone
he and his friends were running out of ammunition.
An 11-year-old girl living nearby was also shot to death, her family
said.
The girl's uncle said she was shot toward the end of the fighting, after
most of the soldiers had left and residents were emerging from their
homes.
The Israeli brigade commander in the area, identified only as Col. Yuval,
said his forces did not fire as they withdrew, even as they came under
Palestinian fire, suggesting that the girl was not killed by his men.
In the West Bank town of Jenin, Israeli undercover troops killed four
Palestinians in a raid of a car-repair shop, witnesses said. One of the
dead was identified as Fadi Zakarneh, an Al Aqsa fugitive.
Palestinians said three of the dead were bystanders.
However, the army said six wanted men were in the building, armed with
assault rifles and pistols. It said four of the fugitives were killed and
two arrested.
___
----------------------------------------------------------------
* David J. Albert, Assistant Instructor, UT-Austin
*
* Phone: (512) 416-6995 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
*
*
* The opposite of good is not evil; *
* the opposite of good is indifference.
*
* -- Abraham J. Heschel *
*
*
*"It is not your obligation to complete the task [of perfecting *
* the world], but neither are you free to desist from it." *
* -- Pirke Avot 2:21 *
---------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
DISCLAIMER: "The views and opinions expressed in this email are
strictly those of the email's author. The contents of this email have not
been reviewed or approved by the staff or board of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom
or its Advocacy and Public Policy Committee."
Advocacy & Public Policy List:
Address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
URL for subscription options: http://app-list.btvshalom.org
List Admin Contact(s): [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/MknplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VTJP/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
