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11.6.03

Sharon, US reach deal on construction at illegal settlements
Ha'aretz has a short and uninformative report on an agreement between Sharon and the US regarding construction in the Palestinian areas:
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reached a new agreement with the American administration, under which no construction will be permitted in existing settlements "except within the area circumscribed by existing construction."

Israel also promised not to build any new settlements and not to expropriate any Palestinian land for construction purposes.

In exchange, Washington agreed to remove the settlements from the framework of its road map and to conduct separate talks on this issue.
All kinds of questions are raised by this article. What does "the area circumscribed by existing construction" mean? If there are a several adjacent settlements, does that mean that all the land "circumscribed" by them is open to settlement activity? Construction is apparently limited only to "settlements" - which means that construction on the Apartheid Wall may continue resulting in massive land theft from Palestinians. And what is the format of these "separate talks"? If we accept a two-state solution, don't settlements become the crux of the matter?


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