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Peace Process

Olmert: We will leave most of Judea, Samaria


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
August 12, 2004

Israel will eventually uproot most of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria in order to “remain a Jewish and democratic state” and retain the good graces of the United States, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday.

The removal of four northern Samaria settlements under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement” plan will be only the beginning of the inevitable transfer of most of the area’s Jews from their biblical heartland to inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders, Olmert told reporters during a tour of the security fence.

“The four settlements we plan to remove in northern Samaria within the framework of the [retreat] plan won’t be the last,” he said.

Same old song

The expulsion of Jewish residents will be implemented “not because it’s the right thing to do, but because there is no other choice if we want to remain a democratic Jewish state,” Ynet quoted Olmert as saying.

The argument that Israel would face demographic disaster if it did not separate from the Palestinian Arabs by relinquishing claims to those areas central to its biblical patrimony – Judea and Samaria – has long been a cornerstone in the effort to halt the settlement enterprise.

Proponents of the Jews’ right to resettle their long barren homeland point out that prior to the rebirth of Israel in 1948, the Jews living in the land numbered just over 600,000.

By contrast, more than 1,200,000 Arabs lived in the “Palestine Mandate.”

But in just over 50 years, the Jewish population has grown to nearly six million, and there is every reason to believe it will continue its miraculous increase if Israel takes hold of its God-given promises, pro-settlement arguments have asserted.

Appeasing our ‘friends’

As further justification for transferring Jews from their homes, Olmert noted that the United States – “almost our only friend” - also wants Israel to conduct a near full pullout from Judea and Samaria.

“We must remember that [Washington] supports an almost total withdrawal to the ’67 borders.”

Over the past week, Washington has directed intense pressure at Israel to halt all Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, where US President George W. Bush envisions establishing a sovereign Muslim Arab state.

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