Israel: No Building Plans for West Bank
AP
Date: 04-04-05
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON - Israel's housing minister said Monday his government had no immediate plans to go ahead with the construction of 3,500 new homes on the West Bank.
"In my ministry, this is all theoretical at this stage," Isaac Herzog said at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Herzog, a Labor Party member, joined the government as part of a coalition Likud Prime Minister Ariel Sharon formed with Labor to survive rebellion within his party over his plan to relinquish Gaza this summer.
At a news conference at the Washington private research group, Herzog said the 10-year-old construction idea may have been revived partly as "spin" by the Israeli government to offset objections to removing all 8,000 Israelis and all Israeli troops from Gaza.
The territory will be turned over to the Palestinians, possibly the first step in a broader Israeli withdrawal designed to set the stage for establishing a Palestinian state.
By withdrawing from Gaza, which Israel has held since the 1967 Mideast war, "we are saying we made a mistake," Herzog said.
The withdrawal and relocation at an estimated cost of $1 billion of 1,600 Israeli families and the idea of building new homes on the West Bank are likely topics when President Bush holds talks at his Texas ranch next Monday with Sharon.
Herzog praised Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas but said he had not taken steps to disarm militants. "We are not seeing any action with respect to wanted terrorists," Herzog said.
At the same time, the housing minister said the pullout "could lead to bloodshed. It could lead to lunatic people firing at Israeli soldiers."
Also, Herzog said, Palestinian militants might be tempted to violence to make it appear Israel was being forced to withdraw from Gaza.
Earlier, Israeli deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert said Sharon was counting on Bush to keep his commitment that Israel can retain several large Jewish towns near Jerusalem as part of a peace accord with the Palestinians.
In fact, "we do not need any assurances because it is crystal clear and it is simple," Olmert said in a telephone interview with American reporters. "When President Bush makes one commitment, it is enough."
And yet, Olmert said, in the course of talks the two leaders will have on Bush's farm in Texas, "maybe it will be repeated" by Bush.
On a Sharon visit to Washington a year ago, Bush voiced his support for Israel retaining Maale Adumim and a few other Jewish population centers near Jerusalem in any peace accord with the Palestinians.
The president said the demographic situation on that part of the West Bank had changed since Israel captured control of the territory and East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.
Last month, however, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israel's plan to expand Maale Adumim was "at odds with American policy" and could threaten peace with the Palestinians.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Rice said the Israeli plan to add 3,500 housing units to the Jewish settlement was "not really a satisfactory response."
Olmert, architect of Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza, said "Israel will not be expected to pull out from the areas" on the West Bank due east of Jerusalem.
"We know he will keep his word," Olmert said of the president's statement a year ago, which Bush put in writing.
Nor, the deputy prime minister said, would Israel pull out of Jerusalem, where the Arabs expect to establish the capital of a Palestinian state.
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