"A weak leader with no military support of his own, Mr Abbas has repeatedly
said that, rather than start a "civil war" with the militants, he will ask
them to agree to a hudna, or Islamic truce."

Israel and the USA have kept Palestine weak, and now our brilliant leader
and Israel's brilliant leader are telling Palestine to stop their millitants
that
were created by Israel's occupation, and the USA sending just Israel
many billions and mainly supporting Israel. Give me a break, how stupid
do they think the USA media and voters are? I probably do not want
to know that.
--
Very Respectfully,

Michael
http://www.RecoveryByDiscovery.com/


"Bruce Olin" <bolin@famvid.com> wrote in message
news:bd759402rcb@enews3.newsguy.com...
> Defiant Sharon gives support to new settlementsJune 24 2003
> By Ed O'Loughlin
> Jerusalem
>
>
>
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...220539889.html
>
> Hopes for the Middle East "road map" dwindled further yesterday with news
> that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has told his ministers to ignore
> Israel's obligation to freeze building of Jewish settlements in the
occupied
> territories.
>
> According to widespread reports in the Israeli media, Mr Sharon told a
> cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel did not accept the internationally
> sponsored road map's requirement that it halt all new construction in its
> settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
>
> "It is possible to build in the settlements, but people should not talk
> about it and dance around every time a building permit is given," the
> newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted him as saying. "They should build
without
> talking."
>
> Mr Sharon's comments raise fresh questions over his commitment to the
> internationally sponsored road map, launched on June 4 at a summit in
Aqaba
> with US President George Bush and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister
> Mahmoud Abbas.
>
> Although Mr Sharon attended the summit, his closing address avoided any
> explicit acceptance of the road map. Drawn up by the "quartet" of the US,
> European Union, United Nations and Russia, the latest Middle East peace
plan
> envisages the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the
West
> Bank and Gaza by the end of 2005, in return for an end to Palestinian
terror
> attacks against Israel.
>
>
>
> As part of the first phase of the plan Israel is required to freeze its
> settlement activity on land seized forcibly from Arabs in 1967 and
dismantle
> all new settlements established in the past two years.
> Since the signing of the road map the Israeli army and police have
> dismantled 11 such "outposts", only one of them inhabited.
>
> The Israeli rights group Peace Now says that at least eight of these have
> already been replaced by the ultra-nationalist Jewish settler movement,
> which ultimately aims to drive all non-Jews from what it regards as the
> Biblical land of Israel.
>
> Mr Sharon's reported comments on Sunday refer not to these "unauthorised"
> settlements, however, but to larger, "official" settlements sponsored and
> protected by the state of Israel. While Israel regards these settlements
as
> legal, the Palestinians and the international community say they are
illegal
> intrusions and should also be removed. While Israel wavers on its
settlement
> commitments there is little sign of agreement on the Palestinians'
> reciprocal obligation to halt terror attacks on Israel.
>
> Sunday's Israeli cabinet meeting again rejected attempts by Mr Abbas to
> obtain a ceasefire from the main Islamic militant groups, demanding
instead
> that he "accept the responsibility to carry out serious counter-terrorist
> actions against the terrorist organisations, the terrorists and their
> infrastructure".
>
> A weak leader with no military support of his own, Mr Abbas has repeatedly
> said that, rather than start a "civil war" with the militants, he will ask
> them to agree to a hudna, or Islamic truce.
>
> Israel's official position is that a truce will only allow the militants
to
> regroup for further violence and has refused to agree to halt its
> assassination campaign against them so a ceasefire can be agreed.
>
> With the Bush Administration increasingly involved in efforts to rescue a
> peace process it launched less than three weeks ago, White House security
> adviser Condoleezza Rice is expected to arrive in the region later this
> week. Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Israel on Friday before
flying
> on to Jordan for talks with the road map's other sponsors.
>
>
> --
> "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, I suppose you would too?" Mom
>
>