Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

RAMALLAH, 15 February 2004 — Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei urged the United States yesterday not to support a unilateral Israeli proposal to evacuate most Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

“It will be regrettable if the American administration supports unilateral steps,” Qorei told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah after a Palestinian Cabinet session. He said he would be “worried and upset” by such a decision.

Opinion polls show that the surprise proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to remove 17 of the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip has overwhelming support among Israelis.

The Palestinian Authority fears Sharon is planning to remove settlements from Gaza only to strengthen other settlements in the West Bank and demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territories to immediately follow a Gaza pullout.

“The Cabinet reiterates its rejection to the idea of moving settlers (from Gaza) to the West Bank,” a Palestinian Authority Cabinet statement said. It said the Cabinet urged Washington to stick to supporting a US-backed road map peace plan.

Palestinians and the international community regard Jewish settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this. Diplomats said on Friday Washington would send envoys to Israel next week for talks before deciding whether to back Sharon’s settlement proposal — part of a go-it-alone plan he has vowed to impose on the Palestinians if the road map remains stalled.

Sharon, a champion of settlement-building on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, has made clear his unilateral plan would leave Palestinians with less territory than they are seeking for a state.

US officials have commented favorably on the idea of uprooting settlements but have stopped short of embracing Sharon’s unilateral approach for fear that it would bury the already battered road map.

Some 7,500 Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves in the Gaza Strip, home to more than one million Palestinians.

The high-level US delegation visiting Israel next week will seek Israel’s commitment to the road map, a series of steps toward a negotiated peace deal.

It is also expected to ask Sharon to change the route of a West Bank wall Israel is building so that it annexes less of the land Palestinians want for a future state.

Israel says the line of metal fencing and concrete walls is meant to stop suicide bombers and has already thwarted dozens of attacks. Palestinians condemn the project as a land grab.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Friday that Washington wanted a negotiated final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

“But some Israeli moves to disengage by removing settlements could reduce friction between Israelis and Palestinians, improve Palestinian freedom of movement and address some of Israel’s responsibilities in moving ahead toward the vision described by the president in his June 24, 2002 speech,” McClennan said.

Qorei, who took office three months ago, said Palestinian and Israeli officials would meet today to prepare for a long-awaited summit between Sharon and himself.

“That meeting will take place if Sunday’s meeting produces positive results”, he said.

Sharon will present the revised plan for the wall to three US envoys, including William Burns, the assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, on Thursday, public radio said.

The Israeli prime minister would unveil the plan to Bush “in the first two weeks of March” when he is expected to visit the White House, it said.