VARIOUS: ISRAELI VICE PREMIER OLMERT SAYS THOUSANDS OF ISRAELI SETTLERS MAY HAVE TO BE MOVED IF M EASURES ENACTE TO SEPARATING FROM PALESTINIANS

Record ID: 400898

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI VICE PREMIER OLMERT SAYS THOUSANDS OF ISRAELI SETTLERS MAY HAVE TO BE MOVED IF M EASURES ENACTE TO SEPARATING FROM PALESTINIANS
  • Date: 21st December 2003
  • Summary: (W5) JERUSALEM (DECEMBER 21, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. BVACJ VIEW OF ISRAELI VICE PREMIER EHUD OLMERT SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS AT FOREIGN PRESS NEWS CONFERENCE 0.04 2. WIDE OF JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES 0.09 3. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) OLMERT SAYING: "But there will be a considerable number of inhabitants, Jewish inhabitants in the te
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM/ GUSH KATIF, GAZA/ NABLUS, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA2UA3WSDEFB5K94HQ8RPXKNVDN
  • Story Text: Israeli vice premier says tens of thousands of
    settlers may be removed, more bloodshed in West Bank raid.




    Tens of thousands of Jewish settlers might have to
    move if Israel enacts mooted measures to separate from the
    Palestinians, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at a
    news conference in Jerusalem on Sunday (December 21).

    Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said last week that if a
    U.S.-backed peace plan failed, then Israel would take
    unilateral steps that would involve holding onto some
    occupied land but moving an unspecified number of settlers.

    "It is certainly a lot more than in the thousands. It's
    probably in the tens of thousands," Olmert told a news
    conference.

    "There is not a chance for an agreement that will
    satisfy the fundemental needs of the state of Israel for
    its very existence. And therefore I have proposed this
    alternative, which is unilateral measures, and they will
    invlove dramatic and substantial concessions on behalf of
    the state of Israel, and that's what I stand for," Olmert
    said.

    Settlers are outraged at the proposal from Sharon, who
    for decades championed the building of settlements on land
    occupied by Israel since the 1967 war. There are at least
    230,000 settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

    Palestinians would like to see the settlers go, but are
    wary of unilateral Israel steps. Sharon said the
    Palestinians would end up with less land if those measures
    were taken than through negotiations on the U.S.-backed
    "road map" for peace.

    Meanwhile, small clashes broke out in the West Bank
    city of Nablus as Israel conducted a raid the army says was
    to arrest wanted Palestinian militants.

    A six-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by a stray
    bullet when Israeli soldiers opened fire at stone-throwers
    in the Balata refugee camp in the city.

    Palestinian witnesses said Mohammad Naim Tesreda was
    shot in the chest while playing near his house in the camp.

    Medics said Tesreda died from shortly after. The army had
    no immediate comment.

    The Israeli army has been raiding the West Bank city of
    Nablus for more than a week to arrest Palestinian militants
    among those waging a three-year-old uprising. At least six
    Palestinians have been killed in this time in the daily
    raids.




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