Sharon proposes removal of
Gaza settlements, settlers say
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon’s office on Tuesday
proposed evacuating seven iso
lated settlements in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, settler lead
ers said, in what would be the
strongest sign yet that Israel is
getting ready to impose its own
boundary.
Israel has never removed an
officially sanctioned settlement,
and the proposal raised questions
about whether Sharon really in
tended to carry it out. Sharon de
nied the proposal was formally
made.
Israeli radio stations said that
in exchange for the settlers’ evac
uation, the government would
guarantee legislation that no oth
er settlements would be uproot
ed until a peace treaty is reached
with the Palestinians.
Settler leader Shaul Goldstein
said the settlers turned down the
proposal. Media reports said a top
Sharon aide relayed it to settler
leaders.
Sharon told reporters his uni
lateral disengagement program
is not yet complete, and the re
ports about the proposal were
“wrong.”
“I have no intention of passing
such a law that would tie the
hands of the government,” he
said.
Israel Radio said the settle
ments earmarked for evacuation
were Ganim, Kadim, Sanur and
Homesh in the West Bank, and
Netzarim, Kfar Darom and Morag
in the Gaza Strip.
All seven settlements are small
and isolated and frequent targets
of Palestinian attacks. The most
prominent is Netzarim, a heavi
ly fortified enclave southwest of
Gaza City.
Israel has never removed a
veteran settlement in the West
Bank and Gaza and has made
only halting efforts to evacuate
unauthorized outposts in accor
dance with the U.S.-backed
“road map” peace plan, which
aims at creating a Palestinian
state next year.
Middle East expert Mark
Heller of the Jaffee Center for
Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv
- University said the evacuation
proposal did not appear to be a se
rious plan.
“It is a fairly modest redeploy
ment,” he told The Associated
Press. “It appears to me that all
that means is that he is trying to
play for time, particularly with
the Americans.” Israeli media
have reported Sharon will visit
Washington next month, though
officials from both countries have
not confirmed that.
The United States has been
promoting the “road map” peace
plan. However, talks have been
frozen for months, and neither
Israel nor the Palestinians im
plemented the first steps of the
plan.
Sharon has threatened unilat
eral measures if the talks remain
frozen, imposing a temporary
boundary on the West Bank and
moving some settlements to im
prove Israel’s security deploy
ment. In his remarks Tuesday,
Sharon linked the reports about
evacuating seven settlements to
his unilateral disengagement
plan, saying no proposals would
be made until the plan is com
pleted.
Bentzi Lieberman, head of the
main settler organization, said
evacuation would amount to re
warding Palestinian terror and
he urged settlement backers in
Sharon’s government to quit.
“This should arouse parlia
ment and the nationalist parties
and those inside the Likud it
self,” he told Israel TV, referring
to Sharon’s party. “It looks as if
he won’t have a government if he
gets on the plane with a program
that in fact encourages terror
ism.”
However, Sharon’s hard-line
coalition partners have said they
would leave his government only
if he actually carries out his
ideas, underlining doubts about
whether Sharon is serious about
moving or evacuating settle
ments he has steadfastly pro
moted for decades.
With Sharon threatening uni
lateral steps if road map talks re
main frozen, U.S. and Egyptian
efforts to revive the interna
tional peace plan resumed
Tuesday.
Egyptian Foreign Minister
Ahmed Maher met in the West
Bank with Yasser Arafat and oth
er Palestinian leaders.
Palestinian officials said the
talks centered on fresh efforts to
get militant groups to declare a
halt in attacks on Israelis and on
Palestinian opposition to a secu
rity fence Israel is building
around the West Bank.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is seen after addressing the
Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem, Israel on Tuesday May 14, 2002.
Suicide bomber kills Canadian peacekeeper, Afghan civilian
BY AMIR SHAH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - A sui
cide bomber killed a Canadian sol
dier and an Afghan civilian
Tuesday in an attack on a convoy
of the NATO-led security force pa
trolling Kabul. The Taliban
claimed responsibility.
The soldier was the first foreign
victim of a fresh wave of violence
that has claimed more than 60
lives this month. The attack came
a day after Afghanistan’s presi
dent signed the country’s first
post-Taliban constitution into law.
Three other Canadian troops
and eight civilians, including a
Frenchman, were wounded in the
attack on a three-jeep convoy on a
main road in the west of the city.
Lt. Col. Don Denne, a Canadian
commander of the security force,
said the attacker blew himself up
as a jeep slowed down to negotiate
a rut in the road, peppering the
soldiers and bystanders with
shrapnel.
Denne told reporters the man
appeared to have detonated ar
tillery or mortar rounds strapped
to his body — a tactic previously
unknown in Afghanistan.
Mullah Hakim Latifi, a Taliban
spokesman who contacted The
Associated Press by satellite tele
phone, said the attack was the
start of a campaign of suicide
bombings that “will be continued
until the coalition forces leave our
country.” He identified the
bomber as 22-year-old Hafiz
Abdullah from Khost province.
Afghan President Hamid
Karzai condemned the attack,
blaming it on “terrorist elements '
intent on disrupting the peace and
security of our people.”
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay
Khalilzad said the attack “showed
how desperate the terrorists are
as Afghanistan makes progress”
and vowed the Taliban would be
defeated. “There is no doubt in my
•mind that history is not on their
side,” he said.
At NATO headquarters in
Brussels, Belgium, NATO
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer condemned the attack
and pledged it would not deter the
alliance’s peacekeeping mission.
The dead soldier was identified
as Cpl. Jamie Brendan Murphy,
26, of Conception Harbour,
Newfoundland. The wounded
were Lt. Jason Matthew Feyko, 30,
of Bethany, Ontario; Cpl. Jeremy
Gerald MacDonald, 30, of Burnt
Islands, Newfoundland; and Cpl.
Richard Michael Newman, 23, of
Hartland, New Brunswick.
Fazel Karim Sayedi, director of
the hospital that treated most of
the wounded, said the 20-year-old
Afghan civilian died of abdominal
injuries. Two other wounded civil
ians were in serious condition.
Afghan state television said the
wounded Frenchman worked for
the Asian Development Bank.
Bank officials could not be reached
for comment.
At their main base in
Afghanistan, Canadian soldiers
hugged and comforted each other
after the attack.
Some of the troops said the at
tack was retaliation for a raid the
Canadians carried out early last
week with Kabul police, in which
several suspected terrorists and
alleged drug lords were appre
hended. The raid was their first of
fensive action since arriving in
Afghanistan last August as part of
the NATO-led security force.
Two years after the Taliban’s
ouster, remnants of the hard-line
regime, along with its al-Qaida
allies and followers of Afghan
warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, ,
have been launching regular at
tacks against U.S. or interna
tional forces, though suicide
bombs are an unusual tactic in
Afghanistan.
Student Government
Filing for candidacy has been extended to Thursday,
January 29th. Ail applications and fees must be received
by noon!
Good luck
to all candidates!
••
Mandatory candidates
meeting will be Feb. 9th
/ ■ . f •
Safety Walk at 8pm.
(meet in the Russell House lobby)
Help us identify areas that are not safe for students.
IsKEit...
■[OURSELF!
BBraa m mstokto
✓
*