Sharon Denies 7 Israeli Settlements Slated to Go
Yahoo! News - Sharon Denies 7 Israeli Settlements Slated to Go: "Tue Jan 27, 1:04 PM ET | By Matt Spetalnick

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) denied Tuesday he was planning to evacuate seven Jewish settlements under a separation plan he has threatened to implement if peacemaking with Palestinians fails.

Settler leaders said earlier that a senior official from Sharon's office offered them a deal under which they would agree not to oppose the evacuation in return for a law banning removal of additional settlements until a peace deal accord was achieved.
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Suggestions that Israel would dismantle any settlements built on occupied land have triggered settlers' accusations of betrayal by Sharon. ...
- posted by Editor @ 6:32 AM

Political support for remote settlements, flagships of extreme Zionism, has begun to erode: they have become a thorn in the government's side
Embattled Jewish Settlers in Gaza Pray for Miracles: "By CRAIG S. SMITH | Published: January 15, 2004

FAR DAROM, Gaza Strip � The marvel of Asher Mivtzari's kitchen is not that it's new but that his family is around to enjoy it. A Palestinian mortar shell fell through the roof and exploded in the room one morning a year ago � just a half-hour before his wife and seven children would have been eating breakfast.

'It was a big miracle,' said Mr. Mivtzari, a bookish man in red-framed glasses and a long, graying beard.

But Mr. Mivtzari and his family may need a bigger miracle to keep their home in Kfar Darom, one of the most isolated of Israel's nearly 150 Jewish settlements on territory the country seized from neighboring Arab states during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Political support for remote settlements, where fighting is frequent, has begun to erode as Israel searches for a way out of three years of violence. Flagships of extreme Zionism that often attract hard-line ideologues, they provoke Palestinian fury and are difficult for the army to defend. In short, they have become a thorn in the government's side."
- posted by Editor @ 6:12 PM

Israel Says Two More West Bank Outposts to Go: "Peace Now" calls it negligible as only 2 families are affected
Yahoo! News - Israel Says Two More West Bank Outposts to Go: "Sun Jan 4, 7:17 AM ET | By Corinne Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said Sunday it would remove two additional unauthorized outposts in the West Bank under a U.S.-backed peace 'road map,' a move the country's leading anti-settlement organization called negligible.

The Peace Now group said the Havat Maon outpost is home to only two families of Jewish settlers and several individuals, while the other outpost, Tal Binyamin, is uninhabited but contains a building where religious studies are held.
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A major move against large outposts, however, could lead to confrontations with Jewish settlers and shake the foundations of Sharon's ruling right-wing coalition. ...
- posted by Editor @ 3:03 PM

US calls for halt to Golan settlement
Israel News : Jerusalem Post Internet Edition: "Jan. 2, 2004 | US calls for halt to Golan settlement | By JANINE ZACHARIA AND HERB KEINON

The Bush administration on Thursday called for freezing Israeli settlement expansion, in response to comments by Israeli officials suggesting a plan to double the number of settlers in the Golan Heights over the next three years.

"We have seen press reports. We refer you to the government of Israel for clarification. As the president has stated clearly and consistently, "Israel should freeze settlement construction, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people, and not prejudice final negotiations with placement of walls and fences," said Lou Fintor, a spokesman at the State Department. ...
- posted by Editor @ 3:00 PM