JERUSALEM, 2 December 2005 — Israel’s border with a future Palestinian state will approximate the route of the wall Israel is building along and inside the West Bank, a top ally of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted yesterday as saying, buttressing Palestinian claims that the construction of the wall is a land grab and not motivated by security concerns.
The comments by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni were the latest in a sign from Sharon’s camp of the policies he would pursue if elected, as expected, to a third term in March.
Palestinians said her remarks proved that the 25-foot-high concrete wall that dips into the West Bank is meant to take land they want for a future state.
“One does not have to be a genius to see that the wall will have implications for the future border,” Livni told a legal conference this week, according to her spokesman, Shai Ben-Mor. “This is not the reason it was built, but it could have political implications.”
By that she meant that at least some parts of the wall’s route will constitute the border, Ben-Mor said.
In court challenges to the route, however, Israel has argued that the 680-km wall — whose construction began after a wave of Palestinian bombings in 2002 — is being built only for security reasons.
The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Livni’s comments confirmed that the wall was a pretext for taking lands the Palestinians want for their state. “This is a very dangerous development and undermines the chances of permanent state negotiations,” Erekat said. “This just proves that Israel wants to dictate and not negotiate.”
A new ally of Sharon’s made similar comments over the summer about the section of the wall around Jerusalem — which includes Israel’s largest settlement bloc, but excludes Arab sectors of the city, tilting the demographic advantage to Jews.
Haim Ramon, now a member of Sharon’s new party, but then Cabinet minister for Jerusalem from the Labour Party, said the Jerusalem section was not just meant as a buffer against bombers.
The route of the wall “also makes Jerusalem more Jewish,” Ramon said. “The safer and more Jewish Jerusalem will be, it can serve as a true capital of the state of Israel.”
Final borders and the fate of Jewish settlements in the West Bank are among the most contentious issues in negotiations. The wall, when completed, would place 8 percent of the West Bank on the “Israeli” side by encompassing some Jewish settlements.
The wall is 75 percent complete, and construction of about 10 percent of the remainder is under legal challenge.
Livni’s remarks are the latest by politicians who have joined forces with Sharon after he left his Likud party last month to form a new, centrist movement in an effort to gain a free hand in negotiations with the Palestinians.
Another Sharon associate, Meir Sheetrit, said earlier this week that the prime minister would strive to hammer out a final peace agreement including a Palestinian state if re-elected. Polls show Sharon’s new party would win the most votes in Parliament, with the dovish Labour party capturing enough seats to set up a moderate collection.
Sharon’s Kadima party received a boost Wednesday when elder statesman Shimon Peres announced he was quitting Labour and would support the prime minister.
“I am convinced that he is determined, as I am, to continue with the peace process and restart it immediately after the elections,” he said. “I decided, therefore, to support his election and cooperate with him to realize these goals.”
A poll published in the Haaretz newspaper yesterday showed that, with Peres, Sharon is now expected to receive 47 percent of the vote in elections. Thirty percent of those Israelis surveyed in the Dialog poll said that Peres’ decision to side with Sharon would increase their chances of voting for the new movement. Fifteen percent said it would make them less likely to vote for Sharon’s party, according to the poll.
The poll refuted contentions by hawkish Israelis that Peres would only damage Sharon’s chances of being re-elected as prime minister.
The Likud party — which would lose 75 percent of its current 40 seats in parliament according to the latest polls — is considering the election slogan, “You chose Sharon and got Peres,” to frighten hard-line Israelis into thinking Sharon would offer sweeping concessions to the Palestinians in peace talks.
Peres will not officially join Kadima, but would receive a senior post in Sharon’s government if he is re-elected, Israeli media reported.
