Ramon calls for evacuation of settlers east of security fence

[bemildred]

Kadima and the Labor Party should pursue legislation granting settlers living east of the separation fence compensation in exchange for their evacuation, Vice Premier Haim Ramon told a gathering in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

Ramon said such a move would advance final-status negotiations with the Palestinians while demonstrating to them and the international community Israel's seriousness in its intentions to end its control over the territories.

"When a right-wing government headed by the Likud and Shas determined the route of the fence, it decided for all intents and purposes that everything beyond the fence will not be under Israel's sovereignty," Ramon said. "Indecision with regards to evacuation-compensation harms Israel's ability to strengthen the settlement blocs west of the fence, where most of the settlers are today, and to keep them under Israeli sovereignty. In that way, it endangers the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state."

Following the Annapolis peace conference late last year, Ramon began sending overtures to fellow members of Knesset in order to gauge lawmakers' interest in approving the legislation. Prior to the conference, Ramon urged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to use his speech at Annapolis as a platform to announce his support for such an initiative. Ramon's proposal was rejected.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/957116.html

[barbtries]

1. wanna hear something wild?

when i read the headline i thought the story was going to be about the US. lol
fences around nations. imagine that.