June 3, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1424

TEL AVIV, June 2: The Israeli government is not planning to dismantle more than 10 Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank, Israeli deputy defence minister Zeev Boim told army radio on Monday.

“Dismantlement is only being considered for blatantly illegal settlements, which do not exceed ten cases,” Mr Boim said.

“These are settlements which were built without authorization and did not receive one afterwards,” he said, making it clear that the other so-called wildcat settlements would not be dismantled.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to announce the dismantling of settlement outposts during the much-awaited summit on Wednesday in Jordan with Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas and US President George Bush.

By endorsing the internationally drafted roadmap for peace, Israel has theoretically committed itself to dismantling all outposts set up since Mr Sharon took power in March 2001.

The anti-settlement Peace Now group has listed a total of 62 or 63 rogue settlements built in the West Bank since then, inhabited or not.

The international community considers all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories to be illegal, and their presence has been a major factor in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

SHARON: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will announce plans to uproot some rogue Jewish settler outposts at a summit with his Palestinian counterpart and US President George Bush, a diplomatic source said on Monday.

Israel’s readiness to begin removing West Bank outposts, coming on the heels of promises from Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to rein in militants, could help smooth the way for Wednesday’s landmark peace talks in Aqaba, Jordan.

But Mr Bush, apparently playing down expectations for major strides forward, predicted the process would be difficult and said all parties would have to assume their responsibilities.

Palestinian minister Yasser Abed Rabbo dismissed Sharon’s outpost plan as “manoeuvres and lies”. He said it fell short of requirements of a US-backed “roadmap” for the removal of all settler enclaves built since March 2001.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the occupied territories illegal. Israel disputes this.

On the eve of the Aqaba summit, Israel tightened security around occupied Al Quds, where dozens of people have been killed in suicide bombings during a 32-month-old Palestinian uprising. Police stepped up patrols in the city and set up additional roadblocks.

Bush called the summit to push forward the peace plan. It calls for an end to violence, a freeze on settlement building on land seized by Israel in 1967 and creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.—Reuters