News, December 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
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Sharon wants 'disengagement' into action
Jordan Times, Monday, December 29, 2003
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to push forward with his controversial "disengagement plan" from the Palestinians Sunday by holding first talks with the general he has tasked with its execution. Sharon was expected to meet with General Giora Eiland, from the military's general command, after Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting, public radio reported. Gen. Eiland is being placed in charge of a special department of planning from January 15 that will be directly answerable to Sharon's office.
He will preside over a special commission which will also comprise representatives from the army, defence ministry, foreign ministry and justice ministry. No date has yet been fixed for the commission to submit its findings. Sharon's disengagement plan has been widely criticised, with the US warning that any unilateral measures must not impede the creation of an independent Palestinian state. The US-backed roadmap peace plan, which targets the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005, has made little progress since its June launch.
High-level talks have been frozen for more than four months and a much-anticipated summit between Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Qureia has been repeatedly pushed back.
Sharon said in a keynote speech 10 days ago that Israel would set up its own security border within a few months if the Palestinians did not start cracking down on groups which have continued their attacks against Israel.
A member of one of the smaller factions, the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, killed four Israelis on Christmas Day in a suicide attack near Tel Aviv. It was the first such attack in nearly three months and brought an end to the longest lull in suicide attacks within Israel since the start of the Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in September 2000. Israel responded to the attack by imposing a total lockdown on the Palestinian territories which has prevented tens of thousands of labourers and businessmen going to work in Israel.
Meanwhile, the shooting of an Israeli peace activist demonstrating against the controversial West Bank separation barrier prompted fierce debate here Sunday with the army accused of being trigger-happy.
The incident, which was the first time that Israeli Jews had been shot at with live bullets since the start of the Intifada more than three years ago, dominated coverage of Israeli newspapers and radio phone-ins.
The Israeli Defence Forces have already launched an inquiry into the shooting on Friday which left Gil Naamati, a member of the "Anarchists Against the Wall" movement, with serious leg injuries.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03. |
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