February 21, 2005
FILLING POTHOLES IN THE ROAD:
Cabinet Agrees to Evict Settlers: Israel also decides its separation wall should enclose two settlements as it approves historic West Bank and Gaza Strip evacuations. (Ken Ellingwood, February 21, 2005, LA Times)
Israel's Cabinet on Sunday approved removing Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank and decided a separation barrier in the West Bank should enclose two large settlement blocs.The decisions appeared aimed at shaping future Israeli-Palestinian borders, and carried plenty of historical significance: It was the first time Israel had ordered the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank from land captured during the 1967 Middle East War.
The decision allows the government to send eviction notices to about 8,500 Jewish settlers who are to be removed from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four tiny communities in the northern West Bank.
All the things Ariel Sharon would never do....
Israel starts shaping borders (KARIN LAUB, February 21, 2005, Chicago Sun-Times)
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet began charting Israel's future borders in a historic session Sunday, giving final approval to a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a revised route for the West Bank separation barrier that would move Israel's border closer to its original frontier. [...]While the Palestinians have balked at Israel's go-it-alone approach, they avoided declaring the moves a deal-breaker in a reinvigorated peace process.
''Israel is creating facts on the ground in the West Bank,'' Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said. ''Sharon wants payback in the West Bank for the disengagement from Gaza, particularly Jerusalem.''
All the things the Palestinians will never accept... Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2005 6:45 AM
Of course, Wart Face Ashrawi, Peter Jennings' former paramour about 60 lbs ago, is unhappy. When a settlement between the parties exists, as a Christian aristocrat who hates Israel, she will have no constituency. No more Eurotrash cocktail parties with all that free food. Abbas doesn't need her. Syria is on its last legs.
Posted by: Bart at February 21, 2005 12:53 PMBart:
She seems to be quite calmly acknowledging reality. Try it some time--it's relatively painless.
Posted by: oj at February 21, 2005 12:56 PMI hardly call the following statement 'calmly acknowledging reality.' It sounds a lot more like bitter condemnation to me.
''Israel is creating facts on the ground in the West Bank,'' Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said. ''Sharon wants payback in the West Bank for the disengagement from Gaza, particularly Jerusalem.''
In all my posts, I've been supporting Sharon's actions, or didn't you notice?
Posted by: Bart at February 21, 2005 1:52 PMyou hear deafly
Posted by: oj at February 21, 2005 3:48 PM