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Monday March 21, 11:55
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Israel throws West Bank on piece scale
(by Helen Snow)
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Israeli and Palestinian commanders met Sunday evening to arrange the handover of Tulkarem to Palestinian control. But the session ended without agreement because of contradiction over security issues. This signaled obstacles for peacemaking process in the region. The handovers were part of a truce announced at a summit last month in Egypt by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Similar disputes held up the transfer of the isolated desert oasis of Jericho last week. Only a temporary compromise solved the conflict. But disputes in talks about Tulkarem, in a much more sensitive location on the Israel-West Bank line, are much more dangerous for the piece process.
The issue became more acute after the Israeli government confirmed plans to increase the size of its largest settlements in the West Bank, that is a violation of official policy. The international community considers all settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Under the peace plan known as the road-map, Israel promised to freeze the enlargement of settlements on land occupied since 1967.
The plan is sponsored by the "quartet" of the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. The violation of the plan can bring all the piece-process achievements down to nothing.
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