Sharon agrees to settlement freeze
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Wednesday, May 30, 2001
JERUSALEM — Israel is said to have pledged to suspend construction
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a ceasefire with the
Palestinians.
Officials said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon relayed the Israeli pledge to
U.S. presidential envoy William Burns. Sharon was said to have told Burns
that his government accepts the recommendations of an international
commission headed by former U.S. George Mitchell. The panel recommended,
among other things, a complete freeze on Israeli construction.
Sharon, the officials said, told Burns that the freeze would be
implemented after the Palestinians end the war against Israel. The prime
minister said a cooling-off period would be required to ensure that the
violence has ceased.
The prime minister has pledged to Jewish settlers that he would not
agree to a complete suspension on construction in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. Sharon has not commented on the reports.
The reported pledge on a construction freeze was offered to respond to
the demand by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, who called for
implementation of all of the recommendation's of the Mitchell report. Arafat
has charged that Israel is constructing new settlements.
"We have announced that we have accepted the Mitchell commission,"
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said. "We have done this to be in line
with the United States."
Israeli ministers met Burns on late Monday and called on the United
States to deem that Israel has honored its pledge of a unilateral ceasefire.
Officials said the ministers want Washington to pressure Arafat to announce
his acceptance of the ceasefire amid the latest attacks carried out by his
Fatah movement in the West Bank.
On Tuesday, an Israeli motorist was killed in a Palestinian ambush near
the West Bank city of Nablus. The motorist was identified as the security
chief of the Samarian Regional Council in the northern West Bank.
Palestinian sources reported that five PA police officers were wounded
by Israeli tank fire near the Jewish settlement of Netsarim in the Gaza
Strip.
For their part, PA sources said Arafat has agreed to renew the security
dialogue with Israel, but has not said he would declare a ceasefire. The
first meeting would begin in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and would be hosted by the
United States. A second meeting would be held on Wednesday.
PA International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath said the security
talks would be followed by political negotiations to implement the Mitchell
report.
Wednesday, May 30, 2001
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