Sharon offered evacuation deal, say settlers

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1132766,00.html

Sharon offered evacuation deal, say settlers

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday January 28, 2004
The Guardian

Jewish settlers said yesterday that they had rejected an offer by Ariel Sharon to limit the evacuation of settlements in return for cooperation with his plan to withdraw unilaterally from parts of the occupied territories.

The settlers' organisation, the Yesha council, said the government had sought an agreement on the evacuation of seven small Jewish communities in the West Bank and Gaza strip in return for a promise of legislation to guarantee there would be no more removals until a final peace agreement is reached with the Palestinians.

The Yesha council said the director-general of the prime minister's office, Avigdor Yitzhaki, had sought the deal as part of Mr Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians later this year if peace negotiations do not move forward. Mr Sharon is expected to present his plan to the White House during a visit to Washington next month, although no date has been fixed. <snip>


But an official in the prime minister's office denied that any such offer was made, although he did not deny that there have been talks with the Yesha council about the planned evacuation of settlements.
The council says the government proposed to evacuate seven small and isolated Jewish communities in the occupied territories which are home to just a few hundred of the estimated 250,000 settlers in the West Bank beyond Jerusalem.

The official in the prime minister's office said that Mr Sharon was determined to press ahead with a unilateral withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories, despite opposition from the settlers and strong resistance within his own government and party, if there was no movement on the US-led "road map" to peace.<snip>

[tinnypriv]

1. Yep

No doubt Sharon is calling Yesha a bunch of "babblers" right now.