12.5.03
More on settlers' reaction to the "road map"
Ha'aretz article on preparations that Israeli settlers are making to thwart the "road map", which calls for a freeze on settlement activity. Some excerpts:For settlers, the current road map peace outline, as co-sponsored and endorsed by the Bush administration, bears uncomfortable echoes of the Oslo agreement, particularly in a clause that specifies that as part of an initial phase, the government of Israel will "immediately dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001" and "freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)" - this last a reference to settler demands that they be able to continue to build housing to provide for the future needs of their children...As visiting U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell ended a brief visit for separate talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, the banner headline in Monday's mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth daily read "Sharon to Powell: Do you want settler women to have abortions?" A companion headline quoted Sharon as telling Powell, "I won't prevent the cream of our youth from making a home."You can't beat that logic.
Further down, we read:
Remarked far-right National Union cabinet minister Benny Elon, returning from a U.S. swing during which he lobbied Congressmen and fundamentalist U.S. Christians to scuttle President George Bush's road map: "What can you do - Secretary Powell needs to study the Bible and to understand the significance of the Jewish people returning to their land."Also includes some remarks by a Republican spin-doctor who works on Israel's PR campaign in the US.
