JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005, but retain control of the coastal strip’s border crossings and airspace, according to details of his “disengagement” plan published for the first time yesterday.
Under Mr. Sharon’s plan, evacuated settlements would not be destroyed — as they were when Israel evacuated the Sinai Peninsula in the 1980s — but Palestinian leaders and militants will not be allowed to live there.
Before Mr. Sharon can begin implementing his plan, he must persuade his Likud party to support it in a May 2 referendum. Polls published yesterday showed the plan getting a slim majority among the 200,000 party members.
Mr. Sharon returned home yesterday to continue fighting for his plan. The Ha’aretz daily reported that Mr. Sharon’s son, Omri, held a succession of meetings with Likud leaders at a Tel Aviv cafe and warned them that Mr. Sharon would resign if the referendum fails, forcing new elections.
The proposal, which includes an Israeli pullout from four West Bank settlements, received a huge boost this week when President Bush heartily endorsed it in a letter he gave Mr. Sharon during a meeting in Washington.
Mr. Bush also said Israel could keep some West Bank settlements and would not have to absorb Palestinian refugees in any final peace deal, giving Mr. Sharon a political victory on two of the most contentious issues in the conflict.
A source close to Mr. Sharon said yesterday the prime minister had almost backed out of the summit and delayed his departure to Washington by three hours as he waited for a final draft of Mr. Bush’s letter assuring him he had secured everything he wanted.
The Palestinians have said they welcome any Israeli withdrawal, but were shocked by Mr. Bush’s declaration. Palestinians want an independent state in all the West Bank and Gaza with a capital in East Jerusalem and they demand that all refugees who fled or were forced out of their homes in Israel during the 1948 war be allowed back.
Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated yesterday against Mr. Bush, burning effigies of him and Mr. Sharon and pasting pictures of the president on the soles of their shoes, an insult in Muslim society.
“President Bush’s statement is a new declaration of war and represents total bias of the American administration against our people,” said Nafez Azzam, an Islamic Jihad spokesman. “He is not qualified to deny Palestinian people their rights.”
Under the plan, published in Israeli newspapers yesterday, Israel would leave all of Gaza except for a patrol road along the Egyptian border. Israel also would retain full control of Gaza’s airspace and border crossings, and Israel’s navy would continue to patrol the Gaza coast.
Israel may expand the border road before the withdrawal, the plan said. Israel has already razed more than 600 Palestinian homes that border the patrol road in the Rafah refugee camp.
Israel will also leave intact “the real estate assets of the settlements” it evacuates, according to the plan. But a senior Israeli official said Israel would not allow the houses to be given to Palestinian leaders or militants.
Israel is in negotiations with the World Bank to receive compensation for the houses left behind in the 21 Gaza settlements — which currently house 7,500 people — the official said on the condition of anonymity.
Mr. Sharon has said he formed his plan because efforts to implement the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan stalled and Palestinians did not fulfill their commitment to disband militant groups that have killed more than 900 Israelis in 31/2 years of conflict. On the Palestinian side, 2,786 persons have been killed.
“When there is evidence on the Palestinian side of the willingness, ability and actual realization of a fight against terror and of the implementation of the reforms stipulated in the road map, it will be possible to return to the track of negotiations and dialogue,” the plan says.
Israel also has not fulfilled its road-map obligation to dismantle dozens of West Bank settlement outposts. Mr. Sharon promised Mr. Bush during their meeting he would keep his commitment.
Security officials said yesterday they plan to dismantle 28 unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts housing 240 families in the next few weeks.
Violence persisted yesterday when hundreds of Palestinians protesting a barrier Israel is building in the West Bank clashed with troops in the village of Beitunya, outside Ramallah. The barrier is a key part of Mr. Sharon’s plan to separate the Palestinians and Israelis, but Palestinians see its route snaking through the West Bank as an Israeli land grab.
Hussein Awad, 17, was killed when shot in the head by a real bullet, hospital officials said. The army said it had only fired tear gas and rubber bullets during the demonstration.
In Jerusalem, police clashed with Palestinian youths near a disputed holy site, police said. Four Palestinians were arrested.
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