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Change Your Life! |
Ministers say Palestinian state to be set up, settlers protest |
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April 17, 2000
JERUSALEM, APR 16 (AP) - Two Cabinet ministers said Sunday that peace negotiations with the Palestinians will result in a Palestinian state, but no specific proposals have been made about how to divide the West Bank.
Reacting to media reports that Israel is offering the Palestinians up to 80 percent of the West Bank, Jewish settlers demanded that Prime Minister Ehud Barak refrain from signing any agreements until they have been approved in a referendum.
Barak put off a meeting set for Sunday with settlement leaders, testing the patience of moderates and fueling a rebellion by younger hotheads.
Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon, considered close to Barak, said "it is clear that a Palestinian state will be set up," but told Israel radio that first, the Palestinians must stop demanding all of the West Bank.
Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said no specific proposals about how much land to give the Palestinians are on the table. He said the two sides are discussing principles, including creation of an unarmed Palestinian state.
Barak has turned his attention back to the Palestinians after peace talks with Syria broke down. Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams wound up a second round of talks in Washington Friday. They are aiming to work out a framework for a peace treaty next month and a full treaty in September.
Ramon said if the framework agreement proposes solutions to all the problems, "then it will be the one that requires a referendum." Barak has pledged to put peace accords to a vote of the people, and an Israeli law requires a referendum on treaties that change Israel's borders.
After all but giving up their attempt to coordinate policy with Barak and keep as much of the West Bank as possible, the mainstream Council of Settlers sent bulldozers to start building new neighborhoods in settlements near Jerusalem.
That's not enough for the Second Generation, young leaders including children of some of the veteran settler activists.
Last year the council worked out a deal with Barak to remove temporary housing units from West Bank hilltops grabbed by settlers. In exchange, Barak pledged that later, the building freeze would be lifted.
The meeting between the council and Barak has been rescheduled tentatively for Monday, said council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef. Benny Kashriel, chairman of the council, plans to demand that Barak rescind a freeze now.
Second Generation leader Shimon Riklin has run out of patience. He said activists will return to all the West Bank hilltop outposts that were evacuated last year, and also, "we will start acting inside the country," demonstrating against the government.
Kashriel said the council has no plans to retake hilltops, though it would "not interfere with local initiatives."
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