RAMALLAH, 5 April 2005 — Despite US concerns and Palestinian protests, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged yesterday to push ahead with expansion of a large Jewish settlement near Jerusalem, Palestinians saying it would cut them off from the city.
“I don’t see construction in the E-1 area as a serious problem,” Sharon, referring to the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, was quoted as telling lawmakers at a closed-door session. “We must link Jerusalem to Maale Adumim.” Sharon told a committee a week before he meets George W. Bush.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, responding to news last month of Israeli plans to build 3,500 homes between Maale Adumim and Arab East Jerusalem, said settlement expansion was at odds with US policy and should come to a “full stop”.
Meanwhile, leading Palestinian fighter groups vowed to defy President Mahmoud Abbas’ bid to disarm hundreds of gunmen wanted by Israel. Leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected Abbas’ efforts outright while Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of his own Fatah movement, appeared divided on how to respond. Abbas, elected in January to succeed the late Yasser Arafat, decided to act after a group of fighters fired on his West Bank compound and went on a shooting rampage in Ramallah last week.
He is not only under pressure from Israel and the United States to fulfill pledges from a February cease-fire summit but also fears Palestinian voters, fed up with lawlessness, will punish his ruling Fatah group in a July parliamentary election. Abbas issued a decree on Sunday giving committees of officials in the West Bank and Gaza two weeks “to resolve the issue of the fugitives,” referring to about 530 fighters on Israel’s wanted list for alleged involvement in attacks.
Under the decree, the wanted men would voluntarily disarm and be recruited into the Palestinian Authority, a security source said. Israel then would no longer pursue them under a deal Abbas reached with Sharon at a Feb. 8 summit.
-— With input from agencies
