SeanAshi
04-27-2004, 11:10 PM
Israel's response to Palestinian violence after a pullout from the Gaza Strip would be even harsher than its present military operations, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday.
Interviewed on Channel 10 TV for Israel's independence day, Sharon defended his unilateral disengagement plan, including a pullout from the Gaza Strip. Members of his Likud Party vote on the plan in a referendum on Sunday.
After a pullout, Palestinians could no longer explain violence by saying that Israel was occupying their land, Sharon said, "and Israel's responses (to violence) would be much harsher."
He refused to give specifics, beyond noting that Israel is already taking stiff measures, an apparent reference to the killing of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin on March 22 and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, three weeks later.
In the TV interview, Sharon warned Likud skeptics that voting down the plan would also negate US guarantees that Israel could keep parts of the West Bank and deny entry to Palestinian refugees.
Palestinians suspect Sharon's real intention is to trade Gaza for a permanent hold over large areas of the West Bank.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, about 1,500 backers of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine demonstrated against the change in US policy.
"Bush does not own a house in Jaffa or Acre for him to give away to the Israelis," one PFLP member shouted, and actors played out a scene in which masked gunmen kidnapped an American soldier and killed him
Interviewed on Channel 10 TV for Israel's independence day, Sharon defended his unilateral disengagement plan, including a pullout from the Gaza Strip. Members of his Likud Party vote on the plan in a referendum on Sunday.
After a pullout, Palestinians could no longer explain violence by saying that Israel was occupying their land, Sharon said, "and Israel's responses (to violence) would be much harsher."
He refused to give specifics, beyond noting that Israel is already taking stiff measures, an apparent reference to the killing of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin on March 22 and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, three weeks later.
In the TV interview, Sharon warned Likud skeptics that voting down the plan would also negate US guarantees that Israel could keep parts of the West Bank and deny entry to Palestinian refugees.
Palestinians suspect Sharon's real intention is to trade Gaza for a permanent hold over large areas of the West Bank.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, about 1,500 backers of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine demonstrated against the change in US policy.
"Bush does not own a house in Jaffa or Acre for him to give away to the Israelis," one PFLP member shouted, and actors played out a scene in which masked gunmen kidnapped an American soldier and killed him