West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Train of Thought => Topic started by: Don Rizzle on April 12, 2005, 12:54:24 PM
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Israel 'to keep some settlements'
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reiterated that Israel will keep hold of some settlements in the West Bank.
Speaking a day after meeting George W Bush, Mr Sharon said the settlement blocs would "be part of Israel, with everything that that entails".
On Monday, the US president said he recognised Israel's need to keep part of the West Bank, but warned against settlement expansion.
Palestinian officials have urged Israel to heed Mr Bush's call.
'New realities'
Speaking to reporters before flying to Washington, Mr Sharon said Israel had established settlements on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war for defensive purposes.
"It was not to antagonise the US, but to keep areas that seems strategic to Israel," he said.
He indicated that a controversial plan to build thousands of homes linking the biggest settlement of Maale Adumim and Jerusalem will go ahead, despite international opposition, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Such a move would defy President Bush's call for an end to settlement expansion.
After meeting Mr Sharon at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Monday, the US President said he had been "very clear".
"Israel has an obligation under the roadmap [peace plan]. That's no expansion of settlements".
However Mr Bush repeated a view first announced last year that he did not expect Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 boundaries, citing "new realities on the ground".
Sanctions?
Mr Bush did not specify what action, if any, might be taken against Israel if it continued to build in the West Bank.
MAALE ADUMIN FACTS
Home to 35,000 settlers
Plan for 3,500 new homes
Established 1975
The BBC's Barbara Plett said it was unclear whether Mr Bush was simply registering protest or exerting real pressure on Israel to freeze settlement activity now.
Saeb Erekat, a key Palestinian negotiator, said an end to settlement building "is the key to everything".
"Failure to adhere to the president's call to stop all settlement activity literally means we will not be able to talk about the two-state solution."
Mr Sharon insisted he was committed to the roadmap, but added that talks with the Palestinians could not move forward until there was a full cessation of violence.
The international community considers all settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4436739.stm
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White light skinned Jews occupyin land is not the problem, brown skinned terrorists are!
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White light skinned Jews occupyin land is not the problem, brown skinned terrorists are!
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White light skinned Jews occupyin land is not the problem, brown skinned terrorists are!
Are you for real? Im just gonna assume your going through a difficult phase in your menstrual cycle and your boyfriend refuses to go down on you. Your personal problems are your business, I can understand that, but don't let it affect your view of the world. :-\
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And Im going to assume youre a half breed chimpanzee who wouldnt know sarcasm if it fucked you in your mouth