WEST BANK: PALESTINIANS AND SETTLERS AWAIT KEY SPEECH BY ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON FOR SIGN OF MOVES ON PEACE AND SETTLEMENTS

Record ID: 400087

  • Title: WEST BANK: PALESTINIANS AND SETTLERS AWAIT KEY SPEECH BY ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON FOR SIGN OF MOVES ON PEACE AND SETTLEMENTS
  • Date: 18th December 2003
  • Summary: (U4) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (DECEMBER 18, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SV OF PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER NABIL SHAATH 0.03 2. MCU (English) SHAATH SAYING "Sharon's announcements regarding the Palestinian Territories has no validity whatsoever either in international terms or any other legal terms. The territory of West Bank and Gaza including Jerusalem, the ca
  • Embargoed: 2nd January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAMALLAH AND HAVED SHAKED, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA1A2FY6VEPON649NTB1IVUMP8E
  • Story Text: Palestinians and settlers await key speech by
    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for signs of moves on
    peace, settlements.



    In a rare moment of unity between Israelis and
    Palestinians, both sides of the conflict were united by a
    sense of anticipation about what Israeli Prime Minister
    Ariel Sharon was going to say at a key speech on Thursday
    (December 18) evening.

    Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath angrily
    rejected Sharon's threats to impose a unilateral peace on
    the region if Israel could not negotiate one with the
    Palestinian Authority.

    He said Sharon had no legal right to make decisions
    about the future of the West Bank or Gaza.

    "Sharon's announcements regarding the Palestinian
    Territories has no validity whatsoever either in
    international terms or any other legal terms. The territory
    of West Bank and Gaza including Jerusalem, the capital of
    the Palestinian independent state are Palestinian territory
    and nothing Sharon can do or have any validity in affecting
    its status or its future. One should not only look at the
    statements, one should look at the crimes the Israeli army
    is doing on the ground," Shaath said in Ramallh on
    Thursday, after fresh overnight violence in Nablus claimed
    the lives of four Palestinians.

    In recent days, the tempo of Israeli media speculation
    about what measures the Israeli Prime Minister will
    announce has steadily grown.

    Many commentators expect Sharon will use the speech in
    the upmarket Mediterranean town of Herzilya to flesh out
    recent warnings that Israel would impose a peace if it
    cannot negotiate one with the Palestinian Authority.

    On the other side of the divide, settlers will be
    eagerly awaiting details of what Sharon will say about the
    fate of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, home to some
    400,000 settlers.

    Israel resumed a crackdown against illegal outposts to
    settlements earlier this week, sending in a group of border
    police to dismantle an unauthorised building on Monday
    (December 15).

    Scenes of Israeli police scuffling with settlers as the
    building was demolished with sledgehammers are likely to
    add to tensions within Sharon's Likud party, the dominant
    member of the right-wing coalition which has traditionally
    supported settlement in part of the Palestinian Territories.


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