Opponents of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for a pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank made last-ditch efforts yesterday to rally support for a vote that could halt the withdrawal.
The Israeli parliament was set to vote yesterday on calling a national referendum over the withdrawal plan, a ploy Sharon says is intended to delay or scuttle the evacuation.
But the parliament yesterday overwhelmingly rejected (72-39) Sharon's plan to withdraw, thwarting a maneuver by rightists opposed to ceding any occupied land.
Also yesterday, the military lifted a ban on Palestinians from entering Israel, imposed tomorrow for the Jewish holiday of Purim. Such closures are routine security measures.
Uzi Landau, the leader of a group of rebels within Sharon's own Likud Party, was meeting yesterday with the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party in a bid to get the rabbi, Ovadia Yosef, to throw 11 party votes behind the referendum.
The proposed dismantling of all 21 Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank has splintered Sharon's Likud Party, a bastion of settlement backers taken by surprise by Sharon's sudden turnabout at the beginning of last year.
Sharon himself was the main sponsor of settlement construction before presenting his pullout plan, explaining it would help Israel hang on to parts of the West Bank.
That issue remained in the spotlight on Sunday. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas criticized Israel and indirectly the US over a restatement of US support for Israel's retaining main settlements in the West Bank in a final peace deal.
``Any talk of settlements that is not a discussion of stopping them is unacceptable,'' Abbas said. ``Here I'm talking about the discussions of annexing settlement blocs.'' The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, with east Jerusalem as capital.
The issue resurfaced over the weekend with a leaked Foreign Ministry document that quoted US Ambassador Dan Kurtzer as saying the US did not support Israel's keeping West Bank settlements.
The document was leaked after Israel revived plans to expand the largest one, Maaleh Adumim, next to Jerusalem. Sharon told his Cabinet that while Washington backs Israel's holding on to settlement blocs, it still opposes construction in settlements.
The settlement issue has been a major sticking point in attempts to implement the stalled US-backed ``road map'' peace plan, which also has the support of the European Union, UN and Russia.
The initial stage requires Israel to halt all settlement construction and remove dozens of unauthorized outposts from the West Bank, while the Palestinians dismantle violent groups. Neither side has carried out those steps. With a truce holding for six weeks, there are hopes peace efforts can resume.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
RSS