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Sharon Pledges to Keep Largest Settlement Blocs
Date: Mon, Apr 12, 2004
MAALE ADUMIM, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel will keep its largest West Bank settlements, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) said Monday before a trip to Washington to secure U.S. approval for his plans for a unilateral Gaza pullout.
"Only Israeli political initiative will retain our strong grasp of the large settlement blocs and security areas," Sharon said at Israel's largest West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim.
"(These are) places that will remain under Israeli control that will continue to grow stronger and develop," he said.
Sharon named several West Bank settlements that would remain under Israeli control, including Maale Adumim, Ariel, Givat Zeev, and the town of Hebron, which Israel and the Palestinians control different parts of.
He told the settlers their homes would "continue to be built as part of Israel, for all eternity," and urged them to accept his plan to unilaterally withdraw from all settlements in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and a few from the West Bank.
Sharon flies to Washington later for a White House meeting with President Bush (news - web sites) at which Israeli sources said they expect a deal ensuring Israel would not have to cede all of the West Bank in any future peace deal with Palestinians.
While polls have shown that most Israelis support Sharon's plan, Jewish settlers, marching along a main Israeli highway and inside Maale Adumim while Sharon spoke, protested against a Gaza pullout, calling it a "victory for terror."
Sharon says the pullback would enable Israel to "disengage" from the Palestinians after more than three years of violence while drawing a security line in the West Bank that would leave them with less land than they seek for state of their own.
Palestinians fear the plan masks an intention to annex West Bank settlements in the future.
Sharon told the settlers Palestinians have failed to stop attacks against Israelis, saying: "As long as they understand this (withdrawal) marks an end to their dreams for years..it's possible they will decide to take the necessary steps."
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