55,000 Palestinians to be cut off from holy city: Israeli cabinet approves new barrier plan
JERUSALEM, July 10: Around a quarter of the Palestinian population of Jerusalem face being cut off from the rest of the holy city after Israel’s cabinet approved a new route for its controversial West Bank barrier on Sunday.
As Palestinians accused Israel of trying to shut down argument over the fate of occupied east Jerusalem, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the plan to pull out of the occupied Gaza Strip should last no more than two weeks.
The revised route of the barrier will mean that some 55,000 residents of east Jerusalem, which was captured and annexed by Israel in 1967, will no longer be able to travel freely throughout the holy city. Around 230,000 Palestinians live in the city.
It will cut now through the Palestinian neighbourhoods of Shaufat and Akab as well as the Qalandiya refugee camp on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Mr Olmert insisted that citizens who found themselves outside the route of the barrier would not lose access to services.
“They will continue to be the beneficiaries of the social and municipal services which they are entitled to as holders of residency cards,” Mr Olmert said, adding that building work around Jerusalem should finish in September.
Construction has been slowed down in the Jerusalem area following recent rulings by the Israeli supreme court that said the fundamental rights of some civilians were being infringed.
The status of Jerusalem has long been one of the thorniest issues of the Middle East conflict.
While Israel regards Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the Jewish state, the Palestinians want to establish the capital of their promised future state in the east of the city.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said that the move would undermine the peace process.
“I do not believe this is helpful either to the peace process or to Israeli security,” Mr Abbas told reporters. “It will put obstacles in the way of peace.”
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the move ‘has the potential to destroy the entire peace process’ as it appeared that Israel was trying to impose its own solution on the status of Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has made no secret of his intention to cement control over parts of the occupied West Bank, especially on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in exchange for a voluntary withdrawal from Gaza.
Officials had previously said the operation to uproot the 8,000 Gaza settlers and several hundred inhabitants in four small West Bank enclaves was likely to last around a month after it begins in earnest on Aug 17.
Mr Olmert however said the operation — which will be the first time that Israel has ever withdrawn from occupied Palestinian territory — should be over within a fortnight. Troops are expected to remain behind in Gaza for a short time after the pullout to dismantle their bases.
“I think it will take no more than two weeks,” he told the Jerusalem Post.
Mr Olmert’s comments reflect a desire by Mr Sharon, nicknamed the bulldozer, to plough ahead with the disengagement despite continuing efforts to delay it.
Reports said some settler leaders had been involved in talks with Mr Sharon about delaying the evacuation by three months in exchange for an undertaking that residents would eventually leave without a struggle.—AFP
