Sharon Asks for West Bank Settlements in Exchange for Gaza Ones

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants U.S. approval to expand large West Bank settlement blocs that are intended to be annexed once a permanent peace agreement is reached in exchange for evacuation of most settlements in the Gaza Strip and a few others in the West Bank.

Sharon will justify the request due to the need to move some of the settlers from the evacuated areas to Ma'aleh Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion. The prime minister is to present his plan to the Americans during an upcoming visit to Washington.

The road map, to which the U.S. and international community remain committed, calls for a freeze in the construction of all settlements regardless of whether they are isolated or part of a larger bloc.

Government sources in Jerusalem said receiving U.S. permission to strengthen the settlement blocs is one alternative being examined by National Security Council (NSC) Chairman Giora Eiland. Another option is formally annexing the settlement blocs, which would lead to Israeli law being imposed on them.

The sources said the previous U.S. administration had agreed that Ma'ale Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion would be included within Israel as part of the Clinton framework for a permanent agreement. "The current administration knows that we did not hold up the road map," the government source explained. "The Palestinians did, and there should be reward and punishment."

Another alternative would be to receive American approval to relocate the separation fence eastward to a temporary security line that would include more settlements than the currently planned route. "The security line would be used until the road map's fulfillment," the sources said. "After the negotiations resume and when an agreement is reached, we would move the fence to where the border is defined."

The sources said Eiland, the former commander of the IDF Planning Branch, is considering other alternatives including the withdrawal and relocation of additional West Bank settlements, however, Sharon remains opposed to a "deep evacuation."

At a meeting this week with the Likud Knesset faction, Sharon referred to the evacuation of "a very small number" of West Bank settlements. Government sources said Sharon rejects a unilateral withdrawal from the Jordan Valley.

Sharon has ordered Eiland to plan the evacuation of most Gaza settlements, but not to draw the planned security line according to the borders prior to the 1967 Six Day War. Therefore, three settlements in the northeast corner of Gaza - Nissanit, Eli Sinai and Dugit - which maintain territorial contiguity with Israel would not be moved.

There has been much deliberation over the issue of the strip under Israeli control that separates the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian border in the Rafah area. Israel is obliged to oversee that security strip according to the peace treaty signed with Egypt, government sources said. However, it is very difficult to maintain security for soldiers operating within the 100-meter wide strip that is in a hostile area.

The U.S. administration has expressed opposition to Sharon's plan, since accepting it would mean admitting the road map's failure. However, the prime minister's bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, said he heard positive signals over the plan during his last visit to the White House.

White House NSC emissaries Steve Hadley and Elliot Abrams are due in Israel next week to hear Sharon, Weisglass and Eiland explain the principles of the disengagement plan. During their visit, a date for a meeting between Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush is apparently going to be set.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has announced enthusiastic support for the Gaza evacuation, which he said will enhance the country's security and economy. Mofaz is also in favor of concentrating West Bank settlements in large blocs, which would make them easier to protect. He also opposes leaving the Jordan Valley at this stage due to the delays involved in planning such a move.

Mofaz believes it will be easier to defend Israel from Gaza-based terror if the IDF is outside the Strip. In any case, Israel would reserve the right to act everywhere against terrorism. Mofaz also proposes that Israel help strengthen the Gazan economy. During his tenure as chief of staff, Mofaz supported withdrawal to a security line in the territories, although he refrained from speaking openly about it.