AP
Quereia: Stop Building Settlements
Date: Sun, Aug 29, 2004
By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Sunday called on the world to press Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank, a day before he was to leave for Cairo for talks about the future of the Gaza Strip (news - web sites).
Qureia said the world needs to understand that such construction could doom peace prospects.
"If you want a two-state solution (Israel and Palestine), there is no way to reach it without an immediate halt to settlements," he said.
Palestinians are upset over an apparent change in U.S. policy toward the settlements. After decades of declaring them "obstacles to peace," U.S. officials are indicating to the Israelis that they can build new housing in the settlements as long as the borders of the individual enclaves are not expanded.
This would also contradict the "road map" peace plan, launched a year ago by President Bush (news - web sites), which mandates a halt to construction in the settlements. It also requires the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups that attack Israelis, and that has not been done.
Palestinians want to create a state in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and demand removal of all 150 Israeli settlements.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) is promoting his "unilateral disengagement" plan, which calls for evacuation of 21 Israeli settlements from Gaza and four small enclaves from the West Bank by late next year, explaining that this would help Israel reinforce its claim to large settlement blocs in the West Bank.
Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Qureia linked the two as well. "To talk about withdrawal from Gaza while Israel is enlarging its settlements (in the West Bank) is something we can never accept," he said.
Sharon refuses to coordinate the Gaza pullout with the Palestinian leadership, leading to fears of a power vacuum that could be filled by Islamic militants.
Qureia was to leave for Jordan later Sunday and arrive in Egypt on Monday, Palestinians said. He was expected to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) on Tuesday in Alexandria. The Egyptians are organizing a high-level meeting of Palestinian factions for next month.
Meanwhile, a hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails entered its 15th day. The prisoners have presented a list of demands to improve their conditions, but the main thrust of the strike is meant as a political blow against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Issa Karake, head of Palestinian prisoners' association, said 3,000 prisoners are striking, though the inmates in the Ashkelon lockup called a halt on Friday. "They are still negotiating with the administration, and if those negotiations fail they will resume their strike," he told The Associated Press. Israel is holding about 7,500 Palestinian prisoners.
The prisoners have been drinking liquids, including milk and fruit juice. Among their demands of the Israelis is for a supply of salt to ease the effects of the strike. Israeli officials say many prisoners never began striking, and hundreds of others have ended their fasts.
With their protest in its third week, the hunger strikers got indirect support from a grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, the legendary Indian leader of nonviolence. Arun Gandhi, on a visit to the West Bank, urged Palestinians to adopt nonviolent means.
"It makes not only moral sense but it makes practical sense," he said. "I don't think Palestine has the economic and military capacity to confront a huge state like Israel which has not only a powerful military arsenal but powerful friends."
In the 1940s, Mohandas Gandhi forced British concessions with repeated hunger strikes.
In violence Sunday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed an armed Palestinian approaching a crossing point between Gaza and Israel, the military said.
SOURCE
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