Palestinian PM urges US to reject Gaza plan

1.45pm

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie has urged the United States not to support an Israeli proposal to evacuate most Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians fear Sharon is planning to remove settlements from Gaza only to strengthen other settlements in the West Bank.

"It will be regrettable if the American administration supports unilateral steps," Qurie told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday after a Palestinian cabinet session. He said he would be "worried and upset" by such a decision.

Opinion polls show that the surprise proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to remove 17 of the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip has overwhelming support among Israelis.

The Palestinian cabinet demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territories to immediately follow any Gaza pullout.

"The cabinet reiterates its rejection to the idea of moving settlers (from Gaza) to the West Bank," a cabinet statement said. It said the cabinet urged Washington to stick to supporting a U.S-backed "road map" peace plan.

Palestinians and the international community regard Jewish settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this.

Diplomats said on Friday Washington would send envoys to Israel next week for talks before deciding whether to back Sharon's settlement proposal -- part of a go-it-alone plan he has vowed to impose on the Palestinians if the road map remains stalled.

Sharon, long an advocate of settlement-building on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, has made clear his unilateral plan would leave Palestinians with less territory than they are seeking for a state.

ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS TO MEET NEXT WEEK

Palestinian and Israeli officials are set to meet next week to try to "advance prospects of a meeting between Sharon and Abu Ala", a Sharon spokesman said, referring to Qurie.

The spokesman said the preliminary meeting was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday but Israel had requested it be postponed because of a snowstorm in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the aim of the meeting was "to try to implement the obligations emanating from the road map."

US officials have commented favourably on the idea of uprooting settlements but have stopped short of embracing Sharon's unilateral approach for fear that it would bury the already battered road map.

Some 7,500 Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves in the Gaza Strip, home to more than one million Palestinians.

The high-level US delegation visiting Israel next week will seek Israel's commitment to the road map, a series of steps towards a negotiated peace deal.

It is also expected to ask Sharon to change the route of a West Bank barrier Israel is building so that it annexes less of the land Palestinians want for a future state.

Israel says the line of metal fencing and concrete walls is meant to stop suicide bombers and has already thwarted dozens of attacks. Palestinians condemn the project as a land grab.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Friday that Washington wanted a negotiated final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians but evacuation of settlements could reduce friction between the two sides.

- REUTERS