Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 10 December 2003 — Sixty percent of Israelis support the evacuation of all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. A poll by Haaretz newspaper, published yesterday, also found that 58 percent backed the dismantling of “isolated” settlements in the West Bank.

The poll found that nearly two-thirds of Israelis were in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said that they were in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state while 30 percent were opposed to the idea while the remainder expressed no opinion.

In addition, 72 percent said that they believed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would accept a Palestinian state.

The results of the survey were published on a day when Jewish settlers threatened war if the government were to force them to abandon eight outposts in the West Bank even as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was dead serious about this.

Sharon told the parliamentary Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee he would not wait for the road map to fail to take “unilateral steps” to forward the peace process, including the evacuation of isolated Jewish settlements.

“We will not wait, and we may take unilateral measures, including the evacuation of communities for the sake of Israel’s security,” he said.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned Jewish settlers late Monday that eight settlements deemed “illegal” by the government would soon be dismantled, including two which are home to dozens of families.

But Pinhas Wallerstein, one of the leaders of the Yesha (Settlers’ Council), told military radio that “the decision to dismantle the inhabited settlements is unacceptable.”

“We will end up with direct confrontation and if needs be there will be a war,” said Wallerstein. The area under the council includes the two inhabited outposts to be evacuated.

As part of his endorsement of the road map, Sharon committed himself during a June 4 summit in Aqaba, Jordan, to dismantle “unauthorized outposts”.

But while a number were dismantled in a blaze of publicity after the blueprint’s launch in June, the settlement watchdog Peace Now has said many have since been re-established. While the “rogue” or “wildcat” outposts are established by settlers on their own initiative, without any prior government authorization, most are nevertheless approved later.

Following peace negotiations at Wye Plantation in 1998, Sharon’s call to “seize the hills” has remained a rallying cry for young radical settlers, and Mofaz’ threat stirred little concern among the residents of the outposts slated for evacuation.

Peace Now chief Yariv Oppenheimer said the announcement about the dismantling of the settlements was part of an elaborate charade. “We have already seen in the last few months that settlements which were evacuated were immediately reinstalled” he said.

— Additional input from agencies