Israel's Cabinet decided to take down 24 unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts as mandated by a US-backed peace plan, but it did not set a date, and ministers said the removal would have to await completion of the evacuation of the Gaza Strip this summer.
The Cabinet decision on Sunday followed submission of an official report blaming the government itself for setting up many of the 105 enclaves dotting West Bank hills over the past decade. The Cabinet set up a committee to study the report, evading a firm decision.
Also Sunday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas gave a rare interview to an Israeli TV station, predicting a cease-fire declaration this week by all Palestinian factions and appealing to Israel to tear down its separation barrier along the West Bank.
PHOTO: AP
On Monday, Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef, in charge of security services, is to meet Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, according to a Palestinian official, who said that there were also contacts on Sunday.
Israel Radio said the two would discuss transferring security control of five West Bank towns to the Palestinians, one of the agreements reached at a summit meeting last month, when Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared an end to more than four years of violence.
According to the US-backed "road map" peace plan, Israel must remove all the outposts created since March 2001 -- 24 according to the outpost report. Seventy-one outposts were built before that date, and 10 cases were not clear.
Both sides accepted the plan in 2003 but failed to carry out their initial obligations. Palestinians did not move to dismantle violent groups, and Israel did not remove the outposts or halt construction in veteran settlements.
"The government reiterated its commitment to take down the 24 outposts established since March 2001," said Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon of the moderate Labor Party after the Cabinet meeting, but he added that no timetable was approved.
Ministers from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud Party said removal would have to await evacuation of all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank in the summer.
The plan has stirred intense opposition from settlers and their backers, including key members of Likud, with extremists threatening violent resistance.
On the few occasions soldiers have removed West Bank outposts, thousands of settlers tried to block them, setting off clashes.
Health Minister Dan Naveh told Israel TV that the outpost removal must be put off. "Try to imagine the picture if the police and army take those 24 outposts now, with the confrontations we already have," he said.
Israel will send additional troops into Gaza to evacuate the settlements, security officials said, after the defense minister condensed the planned evacuation from three months to one to limit resistance. The total number of forces will reach 27,000, the officials said -- three army divisions and 18,000 police to evacuate 8,500 residents.
Settlers, however, are already preparing their last stand, hoarding vital supplies.
"We are making sure we will have water and generators, along with essentials such as rice, pasta, and even baby formula and diapers," said Datia Yitzhaki, one of the settler organizers.
In the interview broadcast Sunday evening by Israel TV, Abbas said a cease-fire declaration was a realistic goal from a meeting of all the factions in Cairo this week.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese