Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced at Sunday’s cabinet meeting that he does not intend to make further withdrawals from Judea and Samaria after implementing the plan to expels Jews from their homes in Gaza and Northern Samaria.
Sharon opened the meeting by saying, “I want to deny reports that were published over the weekend in the Israeli media that following the disengagement plan, Israel intends to implement an additional disengagement plan in Judea and Samaria.”
He also told the Cabinet that the issue of further withdrawals was not on the agenda of last week’s summit meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush. “This subject was not even mentioned in the meetings in the U.S.,” said Sharon.
Israel's largest daily, Yediot Acharonot, reported on Friday in the name of "sources close to Sharon" that Sharon plans to unilaterally determine a final border in Judea and Samaria if the Palestinian Authority does not cooperate in further negotiations.
The report did not mention the names of the communities that might be demolished in the "second disengagement," but stated that Israel's "slim waistline" would be thickened, apparently via annexation of some areas.
Sharon reiterated his commitment this morning to the Bush-backed “Road Map” plan. “I am committed only to the Road Map, which we will carry out if the Palestinian Authority cracks down on terrorist groups,” Sharon told the ministers.
President Bush has stated repeatedly that he views the Road Map as a means for establishing an independent, sovereign, and territorially contiguous Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Such an interpretation of the Road Map cannot be implemented unless additional Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are removed.