Israel Begins to Dismantle Unofficial Settler Outposts. Israel's defense minister said Sunday he would close many outposts in the West Bank built without official permission. By John Kifner and Ian Fisher....In Washington today, President Bush's senior foreign policy advisers commented on Mr. Bush's call for Yasir Arafat to be removed as the Palestinian leader. They suggested that even if he were re-elected the Palestinians' leader, it would not improve his low standing with the Bush administration and that his re-election would jeopardize the chances for peace.... (Why not change all the players at the same time: Sharon, Bush and Arafat? Peace would certainly profit from it... unless replaced by worse, of course...) ...Much of what was going on today with the outposts was political theater. Mr. Ben-Eliezer, who is chairman of the Labor Party and a potential challenger for prime minister, is trying to prove to his traditionally more dovish members that he is not a clone of the hawkish Likud Party incumbent, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The settlers, for their part, have thrown up a number of outposts with only a few families - or, sometimes none - as bargaining chips, to be sacrificed to keep their more substantial holdings.
Nevertheless, the issue is serious and has the potential for more violence. About 100,000 settlers were in the West Bank and Gaza Strip when the Oslo peace accords were signed in 1993. Nearly 200,000 are in settlements today....[New York Times: International]
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