Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived home yesterday after talks in Washington with US President George W. Bush, facing a tough domestic battle over his "unilateral disengagement" plan despite the boost Bush gave him.
On Thursday evening, Israeli forces foiled a bombing attempt near a West Bank Jewish settlement that is on Sharon's list of places to retain in any peace agreement with the Palestinians.
The incident outside the settlement of Ariel illustrated the tensions in the West Bank after Sharon named Ariel and four other locations that would remain in Israeli hands and Bush backed the concept of Israel holding on to some West Bank territory, angering Palestinians.
PHOTO: AP
Soldiers arrested a Palestinian woman carrying a bomb in a bag, the military said, at a bus stop outside Ariel, in the center of the West Bank. The area commander, who identified himself only by his first name, Colonel Tamir, said it weighed about 10kg. Explosives experts detonated it safely.
He said violent groups were using women and children to transport bombs and carry out attacks, assuming soldiers would have a harder time spotting them. The woman, 28, was dressed in Western clothes to avoid detection, Tamir said. It was unclear if she planned to set off the bomb or deliver it to a suicide attacker.
In Gaza, a 19-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli army gunfire in the Rafah refugee camp on the Egyptian border, witnesses said. Hamas said he was planting a bomb. The military said soldiers shot at a Palestinian who fired at them.
Israeli troops pulled out of the Rafah camp after nightfall on Thursday, residents said, after a 24-hour operation. The military said soldiers discovered and destroyed an arms-smuggling tunnel.
Sharon was planning an immediate start to his campaign to persuade skeptical members of his own Likud Party to support his plan -- a pullout from all of the Gaza Strip and a small part of the West Bank -- aided by Bush's endorsement of Israel in two key disagreements with the Palestinians.
Besides noting that final borders must take into account the main Israeli settlements, Bush also said that a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem had to be found in the context of a Palestinian state.
Palestinians are demanding a state in all of the West Bank and Gaza and removal of all Jewish settlements.
They also claim the "right of return" of hundreds of thousands of people who fled or were evicted from their homes during the two-year war that followed Israel's creation in 1948, along with their descendants -- about 4 million people altogether.
Bush gave Sharon an important lift at home, where he faces hardline opposition to his plan.
Sharon has scheduled a May 2 referendum on the withdrawal among members of his Likud Party, and the chances of securing approval are uncertain.
Sharon has said the steps are essential to reduce friction with the Palestinians, but hardline opponents say giving up settlements would reward terrorism. Palestinians suspect Sharon wants to trade the Gaza Strip for most of the West Bank, where more than 95 percent of Israel's 240,000 settlers live.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, in a TV address, denounced Bush and Sharon without naming them and declared that the Palestinians would never give up the right of return.
"Our destiny is to defend our land and sacred places and our rights in freedom and independence and the return of the refugees ... to their homeland," he said, gesturing emphatically.
In Brussels, the EU, a sponsor of the stalled "road map" peace plan, issued a statement saying it "would not recognize any change to the pre-1967" borders unless it was part of a negotiated solution -- referring to the ceasefire line that delineates the West Bank.
A senior EU official said foreign ministers would discuss the matter at a meeting in Ireland this weekend, and a high-level meeting of the "Quartet" of road map sponsors -- the US, the EU, Russia and the UN -- is expected this month.
In Moscow, Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday welcomed Israel's pledge to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
But he cautioned that all the principles outlined in the "road map" peace plan still had to be implemented.
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