Fuente : Palestinian National Authority
http://www.pna.gov.ps/

PALESTINE: Israeli Government to Vote on Evacuating Remaining "Disengagement" Settlements

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GAZA, August 21, 2005 (IPC + Agencies) - - The Israeli government will vote today on evacuating the rest of the illegal Israeli settlements included in the unilateral disengagement plan in Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.


During the past two weeks, the Israeli government has already voted in favor of the first and second phases of the disengagement plan. Today, the cabinet would be expected to approve the evacuation of the settlements "Sanor", "Homesh", "Ganim" and "Kadim" in northern West Bank, in addition to "Nissanit", "Dugit" and "Eli Sinai" in northern Gaza Strip.

The northern Gaza Strip settlements have been reported to have become virtually empty, after most settlers there left them voluntarily. Israeli military sources believed that some right-wing opponents to the Israeli withdrawal were still remaining in these settlements after infiltrating the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli minister Dani Naveh, who opposed to the withdrawal, said he would demand the Israeli government to explain the statement of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said the Israeli withdrawal should not stop at Gaza and must be followed by other steps for the Palestinians.

Another extremist rightist minister, Yisrael Katz, also said that he would propose changing the Israeli government's security policy in Gaza, and refrain from moving hazardous materials used in building the settlements into Israel.

Katz called, in a racist statement, on Israel to "leave the rooftops of settlement houses to collapse on the Palestinians' heads so they would run to Sinai, instead of having the [Israeli] residents of Ashkelon to Tel Aviv."

The Likud rightist Knesset member Ehud Yatom also hinted that he would demand the Israeli government to back down on the decision to evacuate the northern Gaza settlements, instead suggesting they be included "in the regional contiguity of the Israeli city of Ashkelon."

"The severing of these settlements from Ashkelon represents a precedent that no Israeli government have ever made before - returning to the 1967-borders," Yatom told reporters.

Israeli radio reported yesterday that the Israeli army would present the details of the evacuation process to the government, along with a timetable to the destruction of houses there.

Israeli sources affirmed that a final agreement was not reached yet between Israel and Egypt about dumping the rubble of the settlement buildings in the Sinai Desert, despite that Amos Gilad, the head of the political department of the Israeli Defense Ministry, declared that extensive discussions were being made with the Egyptians on this issue and that signing an agreement about it was imminent.

According to this reported agreement, Israel would controllably burry hazardous and carcinogenic materials, such as Asbestos, inside Israel, while the World Bank would handle contracting Palestinian and Egyptian companies to remove the rubble of 2800 settlement buildings into the Sinai Desert.

Concluding the Evacuation
Israeli forces continued today the evacuation of the rest of the Israeli settlers from Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, as the evacuation would be concluded on Monday or Tuesday, according to Israeli police sources.

An Israeli military sources confirmed that the final settlements in Gaza Strip to be evacuated were Atzmona (80 families), Nitzarim (60 families), Qatif (60 families) along with Shlo (10 families).

The settlements of northern Gaza Strip, such as Dugit, Eli Sinai and Nissanit, would also be completely evacuated, as a small number of families remained there.

The Israeli Central Command also expected the evacuation of the West Bank settlements of Sanor and Homesh to be concluded by Thursday, while at the same time the possibility of postponing the evacuation to next week remained under discussion.

Israeli security officials expected fear resistance in both of these settlements, as the settlers posses weapons and might tend to use them against the Israeli soldiers.

On the other hand, the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was expected to head for the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month to participate in the Assembly's session and address the leaders of the world, in an attempt to achieve political gains of his disengagement plan.

The evacuation of settlers would be concluded by the time Sharon would fly to New York, Israeli media sources believed, although that the Israeli forces would begin withdrawal from Gaza Strip in the beginning of October.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Sharon would seek to "improve the status of Israel on the international arena, and attract some of the world leaders to visit Israel, such as the US President George W. Bush and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak."

Sharon's government has and is expected to face serious upheavals that might topple his government and result in early elections in Israel before November, 2006.

However, with the political calm Israel is expected to go through after the conclusion of the disengagement plan, Sharon plans to promote his political agenda and prove his policies' success among the Israeli people in an effort to boost his rating in the coming elections, commentators believed. notas_de_prensa_archivo