Sharon reveals plans to remove settlers from Gaza

The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to dismantle all 17 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. He made the announcement today to leaders of his Likud Party, but a participant in the closed-door meeting said he did not give a timetable.

Sharon spoke to the lawmakers just hours after being quoted by the Haaretz daily as saying that he has "given an order to plan for the evacuation" of the Gaza settlements, which are home to about 7,500 settlers.

Sharon's comments, published on the Haaretz web site, were the most detailed yet on the possible removal of Gaza settlements. The prime minister has said in recent weeks he would take unilateral steps, including removing some settlements and imposing a boundary on the Palestinians, if there is no progress in stalled peace efforts by this summer.

In the meeting with Likud legislators, "the prime minister confirmed that what was published is true," said Likud lawmaker Yechiel Hazan. "He said it is possible there will be no more Jews in the Gaza Strip."

Asked about a timetable, "he (Sharon) didn't say it would happen at once, but that is the plan," Hazan said.

Haaretz columnist Yoel Marcus wrote that Sharon told him in an interview that "it is my intention to carry out an evacuation - sorry, a relocation - of settlements that cause us problems and of places that we will not hold onto anyway in a final settlement, like the Gaza settlements."

Sharon's critics from the moderate opposition and ultra-nationalist parties said they doubted the prime minister, a long-time patron of the settlement movement, would actually go ahead with the removal of settlements.

Zvi Hendel, an Israeli lawmaker and Gaza settler, accused Sharon of trying to deflect attention from various corruption probes against the prime minister and his two sons. "I said several weeks ago that the intensity of the (corruption) investigations would equal the intensity of the uprooting of settlements," Hendel told Israel Radio.

An umbrella group of Gaza settlements said it would try to topple the Sharon, a patron of the settlement movement throughout his career.

Opposition parties said the Sharon government has not met its obligation, under the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, to remove dozens of unauthorized settlement outposts. Such outposts presumably would be easier to dismantle than veteran settlements. "Planning is not implementing," said opposition leader Shimon Peres.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said no decision has been made on dismantling Gaza settlements, and that he opposes unilateral steps. "This subject has to come to Cabinet decision and Knesset decision," Shalom said.

Sharon did not tell Haaretz when the dismantling would begin, but suggested it could take some time. "It's not a simple matter," Sharon was quoted as saying about the possible removal of Gaza settlements.

"We are talking of thousands of square kilometers of hothouses, factories and packing plants. People there who are third-generation. The first thing is to ask their agreement, to reach an agreement with the residents. To move thousands of dunams of hothouses, educational institutions, thousands and thousands of vehicles, it's not a quick matter, especially if it's done under fire," Sharon said.

"I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza," Sharon added.

He said he would discuss the plan when he meets President George Bush. Sharon aides have said the prime minister hopes to see Bush later this month, although US officials have said no date has been set for a meeting.