Mideast - AFP
Israel must withdraw from Gaza to stay 'Jewish, democratic': Sharon
Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2004
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) warned that Israel needs to withdraw from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) to remain "Jewish and democratic", in a speech broadcast on public radio.
"We will not be able to preserve the Jewish and democratic character of the state if we continue to rule over one million Palestinians" in the Gaza Strip, Sharon told students at Israel's Academy of War late Thursday.
The argument is the strongest put forward yet by the hawkish, right-wing prime minister for his plan to evacuate troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005.
"We can't ignore (Israel's) demographic concerns," Sharon said, in reference to the Palestinians' higher birthrate.
According to official projections, by 2010 Israel's 5.2 million-strong Jewish population will be overtaken by that of the West Bank and Gaza, together home to more than three million Palestinians, and the Jewish state's own Arab citizens.
Sharon also stressed that Israel must give up the Gaza Strip to consolidate its presence in settlements on the West Bank.
The premier won his government's formal backing last month to dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and another four in the northern West Bank.
Sharon, however, lost the government's parliamentary majority after he fired two ministers opposed to the Gaza pullout, and a third left his government in protest at the plan.
The planned withdrawal will uproot some 7,500 Gaza settlers and no more than 400 from the 220,000-strong West Bank settler population.
"Whomever believes that we can hold on to Netzarim (south of Gaza City) and Maale Adumim (on the West Bank, east of Jerusalem) will end up losing both," Sharon warned.
Israel's media noted Friday that Sharon's new argument for evacuating Gaza is typically used by the center-left opposition Labor party which the premier recently invited to form a national union government.
Labor officials nevertheless expressed impatience with Sharon's handling of negotiations concerning their participation in a new government.
They protested Friday the subsequent invitations the premier had extended to two small ultra-religious parties instead of reaching an agreement with Labor first.
"Sharon is making a joke out of the Labor party," MP Ofer Pines told the English-language Jerusalem Post.
"If Sharon wants Labor, the Likud negotiating team should meet first with Labor and reach guidelines on a new coalition that can be used as the basis for bringing in other factions," he said.
Labor chairman Shimon Peres is slated to meet Sharon on Sunday to address Labor's complaints, the paper said.
Sharon invited the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) ultra-orthodox party to join a new coalition government Wednesday, a day after Peres was given the green light by his party's political bureau to start negotiations with Sharon.
The premier has also scheduled talks with Shas, a larger rival to the UTJ.
Besides angering Labor, the move could trigger the departure of the secular Shinui party, the second largest party in the current coalition.
"Hatred and reciprocal disqualifications will not lead us anywhere, and I believe that I will succeed in having them all sit at the same table," Sharon also said at the Academy of War.
SOURCE
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.