JERUSALEM — A government plan to dismantle Israeli settlements and impose a new boundary with the Palestinians will touch off bitter confrontation with Jewish settlers but must go ahead for the sake of the country’s security, the prime minister’s top deputy said Sunday.
Vice Premier Ehud Olmert’s comments pointed to fears of a bitter internal conflict over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s recent announcement that Israel will have to evacuate settlements even without a peace agreement. The Palestinians vehemently oppose the plan, and now even members of Sharon’s Likud Party say they would rather break a government coalition than back it.
"I have no doubt there be a very painful, difficult, heartbreaking process, and a confrontation of (previously) unknown proportion in the life of this country," Olmert told the local Foreign Press Association. "It’s a serious crisis … There’s no doubt about it. I expect it to be very emotional and very confrontational."
Olmert said Israel had to leave most of the West Bank and Gaza — an about-face for his Likud Party — because otherwise Arabs will soon outnumber Israel’s 5.5 million Jews in the territory it controls. "Do we want (the Palestinians) to be equal citizens in the state of Israel and ultimately dictate the nature of the state?" Olmert said.
Also Sunday, Israeli troops conducted a series of raids in the West Bank city of Nablus, arresting a Hamas leader and killing a 5-year-old Palestinian boy, Palestinian witnesses said.
In his speech Thursday, Sharon reiterated his commitment to the U.S.-backed peace plan. But he said that if the Palestinians do not make serious peace moves in the next few months, Israel would impose its own boundaries on them to improve Israel’s security.
Egypt’s foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, was expected in Israel today in an effort to get the peace plan back on track.
Sharon said that if he decides on unilateral steps, the Palestinians would receive much less land than under a negotiated agreement. But he also warned Israelis that his unilateral steps would involve a withdrawal from and dismantling of some Jewish communities in Gaza and the West Bank.
Olmert, a close Sharon ally, maintained that the government is serious, saying probably "tens of thousands" of people would be affected.
"There will be a very serious protest and I don’t take it lightly," Olmert said.
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