JERUSALEM/WEST BANK: Israeli cabinet discusses new plan for evacuation of West Bank Jewish settlers

Record ID: 791319

  • Title: JERUSALEM/WEST BANK: Israeli cabinet discusses new plan for evacuation of West Bank Jewish settlers
  • Date: 7th September 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) KOTERET, YOUNG GIRL LIVING IN OFRA, SAYING: "It's a good community, it doesn't need to be evacuated." (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) AMIT, YOUNG GIRL LIVING IN OFRA, SAYING: "Depend on how much money..." (laughing)
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE9WRAIIHERLTUAGQQB6RQYS4I
  • Story Text: Israel's cabinet discusses a new plan to evacuate Jewish settlers from West Bank but settlers show no sign of readiness to peacefully accept proposal.
    The Israeli government discussed for the first time on Sunday (September 7) a plan to compensate Jewish settlers who agree to voluntarily leave their homes in the occupied West Bank.

    "Today we will hear an initial presentation of an important issue that is in the heart of political issues, the issue of evacuation-compensation (for West Bank Jewish settlers)," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

    "We will not decide on this issue today, but at a time when there are serious continuous negotiations under way, and when it is clear to everyone that (these negotiations) may lead, in some stage when it is finalised, to the need to take decisions, including on evacuation of residents from places they live in. We should start thinking of the meanings, aspects and various related issues," he added.
    The settlement issue has clouded U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians launched in November with the aim of reaching a statehood deal by early 2009.
    The plan proposed by Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon "on the issue of voluntary relocation and compensation" of Jewish settlers from the West Bank seems to have won the support of some Israeli ministers.

    "We are looking for ways and means to see how we can develop further the peace process in the region and this is one of the ideas that will be checked by the government. It has to be done cautiously, only in light of ... when we know that there is a viable agreement with a viable partner that can adhere to his undertakings, it will be implemented. But meanwhile to discuss it is a positive approach to the peace process," said Israeli cabinet minister Isaac Herzog ahead of the meeting.
    A spokesman for Ramon said it was the first time the cabinet would discuss such a plan. He gave no further details.
    Israel wants to hold onto several major Jewish settlement blocks in any future peace deal. The Palestinians say these and other settlements will deny them a viable state.
    Ramon had said months ago he was developing a compensation plan for West Bank settlers to try to minimize their resistance to withdrawing from the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war as part of a peace deal.
    Olmert, dogged by a corruption scandal, has vowed to resign after his Kadima party chooses a new leader later this month, and has sought to draw up a document of understandings with the Palestinians before he steps down.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected the idea of any partial peace agreement.
    The Head of the West Bank settler's council said in response to the proposal that Prime Minister Olmert will be the only one "evacuated"
    and not Jewish settlers residing in the West Bank
    "The only evacuation we are going to see in the near future is the evacuation of Mr. Olmert's government from our political scene. That's no small compensation for the people of Israel that suffered from a long list of mistakes this government did during it's two and a half years in office. It's a completely futile meeting, there is not going to be any evacuation, there is no demand for monetary compensation to evacuate Judea and Samaria (West Bank), on the contrary. I think that the people of Israel is beginning to understand, to strengthen it's grasp, that our presence in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) is vital for Israel's existence," Dani Dayan, Head of the settlements council in the West Bank told Reuters.
    Residents of the Jewish settlement of Ofra in the West Bank also said they had no plans of leaving their homes anytime soon.

    "It's not a matter, we are not even thinking about it. He (referring to Israeli PM Ehud Olmert) can continue to talk but we don't take care of anything that he says, we are still living here, we just sent our kids two days ago to schools," said one resident.

    "The whole suggestion is absurd, the Olmert government doesn't have any mandate now, Assad (referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad) realises that, he stopped all the negotiations over the Golan Heights. This is just a ridiculous ploy to show that they are still around, everybody knows they are on the way out," added another.
    Some half a million Israelis live among 2.5 million Palestinians in West Bank settlements ruled illegal by the World Court, on land Palestinians want for a future state.
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