TEL AVIV - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Wednesday that synagogues and graves of settlers in Gaza will be moved to Israel during a planned withdrawal from the territory this summer, days after the United States urged Israel not to leave behind “wanton destruction”.
Security officials said synagogues in Gaza should be destroyed during the pullout to avoid their sacrilege after troops leave the territory. Sharon rejected the proposal, saying they would be moved in their entirety to Israel.
Sharon has been contemplating whether to given the army and police, who will work together to pull all settlers out of the coastal strip, consent to destroy all settler homes during the withdrawal, which is expected to begin in July and last a month.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urgedIsrael on Tuesday not to engage in “wanton destruction'” of the homes the 8,000 Jewish settlers will leave behind after the withdrawal.
There needs to be some coordination on what's being done, and I think there will be,” she told the Associated Press. “Obviously, you want the housing to be fit for the needs and circumstances also of the inhabitants of Gaza, and it's not clear that there's a perfect match.”
She said that the United States would help in reconstruction because “if the Palestinians are able to take over the Gaza (Strp) and turn this into an area that is prosperous over the long term, that's going to be very much better for the whole peace process.''
Senior officials in the Defense Ministry have said behind closed doors that Israel should not demolish the settler houses because it would not be well-received by the rest of the world and would remind Israelis of the army’s evacuation of settlements in the Egyptian Sinai in 1982.
Sharon: Graves must be moved
The prime minister also said security forces would coordinate the transfer of settler graves from Gaza to Israel:
“Those who object to moving the graves should be convinced otherwise,” he said. “Human dignity must be preserved strictly and we must explain to the families the importance to extracting the graves.
Sharon has also agreed to accept Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz’s recommendation to order IDF troops to take control ofsettler homes in Gaza during the pullout, as it is estimated some settlers may attempt to return to their homes.
The prime minister has come under fire from settlers and right-wingers opposed to his plan to dismantle all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four from the West Bank; they say he is sacrificing their biblical birthright and have vowed to stop the disengagement.
The army has already taken steps to prepare for the pullout, Israel’s first from Palestinians territory it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
IDF courses will stop ahead of the pullout and the reserves will be called up to participate in the evacuation of the settlers and reinforce positions in and outside Gaza.
First published: 14:59, 04.06.5