Hand-over of 4 towns nears

Mon., Jan. 31, 2005

Ramid Plushnick-Masti Associated Press

Illegal funding cited in report, paper says

JERUSALEM – A government-sponsored report shows that Israeli settlers at more than 120 unauthorized hilltop outposts in the West Bank have received illegal state funding and services for 10 years, an Israeli newspaper said Sunday.

Asaf Shariv, an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, refused to discuss the newspaper's claims, saying only that the outpost report would be released in coming weeks.

Under terms of the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, Israel must remove dozens of unauthorized West Bank outposts that began springing up in 1993 to protest the interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deal signed that year. So far, only a few have been removed in operations that have sparked clashes between settlers and government forces.

Palestinians contend all the Israeli settlements are encroachments on land they claim for a state.

The Yediot Ahronot newspaper quoted officials as saying the report, commissioned by Sharon in July, found that unauthorized outposts received government money and services even though they were never officially approved. Almost all of Israel's ministries were involved in aiding the outposts even though a succession of attorneys general demanded a halt to the funding, Yediot said. In May, Israel's State Comptroller criticized the Housing Ministry for funneling nearly $6.5 million to the West Bank for illegal settlement construction the previous three years.

– Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian police commanders began preparations Sunday to take control of four West Bank towns by midweek after top Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed on a security plan for the West Bank.

Transfer of the towns’ control would be the first large-scale Israeli move on the ground to acknowledge that violence has decreased significantly since Palestinians elected Mahmoud Abbas to replace the late Yasser Arafat as their leader Jan. 9.

If the calm holds, Israel promises to move its troops back to positions they held before the latest Palestinian uprising began in September 2000, turning populated areas of the West Bank back to Palestinian control – a major step toward resuming peace talks.

In another significant move, an Israeli official said amnesty would be granted for fugitive Palestinians in the West Bank, ending Israel’s relentless search for dozens of extremists suspected in attacks on Israelis. In more than four years of conflict, dozens of militants have been killed in Israeli raids and many more have been arrested.

The amnesty would allow Abbas to fulfill a key campaign pledge that fugitives would be allowed to reintegrate into Palestinian society with no fear of Israeli reprisal.

More than 100,000 Jewish settlers and their backers demonstrated Sunday night in Jerusalem against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate all 21 Gaza settlements and four West Bank outposts this summer.

The protesters demanded a referendum on the plan, but Sharon has rejected that as a delaying tactic, and he appears to have the political muscle to push the plan through. In all, 8,500 settlers stand to be displaced.

Hand-over of 4 towns nears

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