Sharon gives 'order to plan' Gaza relocations
Israeli Labor opponent calls announcement 'one big bluff'
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told an Israeli newspaper Monday that he has ordered plans to be made to dismantle Israeli settlements in Gaza.
In an interview with the daily Ha'aretz, Sharon said, "I have given an order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip."
"It is my intention to carry out an evacuation -- sorry, a relocation -- of settlements that cause us problems and of places that we will not hold onto anyway in a final settlement, like the Gaza settlements," Sharon said.
The prime minister gave no timetable for the action. Ha'aretz reported that Sharon described his plan to his Likud faction in a closed-door session Monday.
"We are talking of a population of 7,500 people," he said. "It's not a simple matter. We are talking of thousands of square kilometers of hothouses, factories and packing plants. People there who are third-generation. The first thing is to ask their agreement, to reach an agreement with the residents. ...
"I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza."
Settlers were quick to condemn Sharon's plan. Bentzi Lieberman, chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, told Israel Radio the move "only gives a prize to terrorism."
Lieberman said he did not believe Sharon's coalition government would survive if carried out the plan.
Settler leaders told CNN there are 17 formally established settlements and four informal ones in Gaza, and they put the population closer to 8,000.
The opposition Labor Party was also skeptical of Sharon's announcement. Labor Party Knesset member Ofir Pines said that Sharon's interview was "one big bluff."
"Sharon has said thousands of times that he intends to dismantle settlements, but he has yet to dismantle even one," Pines told The Jerusalem Post.
Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat told CNN, "If Sharon really intends to withdraw from Gaza, they will not find a single Palestinian who will stand in his way.
"We hope that this is not just a PR ploy. The Israeli government and Sharon have to choose between settlement policy and peace. They cannot have both."
Sharon told Ha'aretz that he will present his plan to President Bush during a visit to Washington this month. "It has to be done with American agreement and support," the Israeli leader said. "We need their support."
He said Israel has not yet discussed the issue of financing the relocations with the Americans. "But we will have to discuss [it] with them," he said.
Under several past and present proposals for a "final status agreement" between Israelis and Palestinians, the settlements in Gaza would be withdrawn.
Sharon has said he is willing to negotiate -- with reservations -- with the Palestinians under the terms of the U.S.-backed "road map" for a Middle East peace.
The road map -- backed by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia -- aims to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state by 2005.
In recent months, Sharon also has said Israel will take actions unilaterally to separate Israelis from the West Bank and Gaza if the Palestinians don't move to end violence and come to the negotiating table.
The unilateral plan calls for the completion of a separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank.
Gaza is already separated from Israel by a fence, but Israeli troops remain in the area to guard Jewish settlements. Removing the settlements would mean no Israelis would be left for the Israeli military to protect.
