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.
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