16 February 2005
Ariel Sharon has reaffirmed that Israel plans to hold onto the most populous settlement blocs in the West Bank under any final agreement with Palestinians.
In his first declaration on the shape of any "final status" deal since Mahmoud Abbas took office as Palestinian leader, the Israeli Prime Minister made it clear he was holding President Bush to the concessions he secured from him last April. Those would include the redrawing of the 1967 borders to include the biggest settlement blocs.
Mr Sharon was his clearest yet saying he wanted co-ordination with the Palestinian Authority on its plans to withdraw 7,500 settlers from Gaza in the summer. "Disengagement from Gaza will be co-ordinated with the Palestinians," he said
Mr Sharon vowed that he would not be deflected from the Gaza disengagement plan by a spate of extreme right wing death threats against ministers including himself. "In my entire life, I have never surrendered to threats and I have no intention of starting now," he said.
More at;
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=611463