JERUSALEM – In decisions that appeared aimed at shaping future Israeli-Palestinian borders, Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday approved removing Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, and decided its separation barrier in the West Bank should enclose two large settlement blocs.
Meanwhile, Israel today began to release a first wave of 500 Palestinian security prisoners, fulfilling a promise made at an Israeli-Palestinian summit meeting in Egypt earlier this month, where leaders declared an end to four years of bloodshed.
The decision on the withdrawal carried little suspense; 17 of 22 ministers voted in favor, but it bore plenty of historical significance: It was the first time Israel ordered the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank from land captured during the 1967 Middle East War.
The decision allows the government to send eviction notices to about 8,500 Jewish settlers who are to be removed from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four tiny communities in the northern West Bank.
Hours after the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon signed orders giving residents five months to leave, starting July 20.
“It isn’t an easy day. It isn’t a happy day,” Sharon said before the Cabinet session. Sharon said in a speech late Sunday that the withdrawal decision was the “most difficult” in his career.
Holding Cabinet votes on the withdrawal and the barrier route on the same day offers glimpses into Sharon’s strategy. He has argued for evacuating hard-to-defend settlements in Gaza and focusing instead on solidifying Israel’s grip on major Jewish population centers in the West Bank.
Analysts said the timing of the two votes also appeared aimed at blunting international criticism over the barrier that Israel is constructing.
Israel says the barrier is meant to protect Israel proper from Palestinian suicide bombers and other attacks. Palestinians say the barrier is an attempt by Israel to unilaterally establish a border that is supposed to be decided in negotiations between the two sides, and that it swerves deeply into the West Bank to grab Palestinian land.
The Cabinet approved 20-1 a modified route for the fence and wall complex. The new path would move the barrier closer to a 1949 armistice line separating Israel and the West Bank, commonly known as the Green Line, so about 7 percent of the West Bank would be placed on the Israeli side of the fence and wall, rather than 16 percent, as originally planned.
The West Bank’s largest settlement, Maaleh Adumim, just east of Jerusalem, and a massive group of settlements south of Jerusalem called Gush Etzion would be situated on the Israeli side of the border.
The Jewish settlement blocs are home to an estimated 85,000 people. About 10,000 Palestinians will remain on the Israeli side of the divider.
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