Immediately after the upcoming elections, Kadima will draft a plan for a second disengagement from Judea and Samaria settlements, former Shin Bet Director Avi Dichter revealed over the weekend, Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday.
“We are discussing security measure which we’ll begin planning after establishing the new cabinet, in cooperation with the coalition parties and settler leaders,” said Dichter, who holds a senior position in Kadima. “Some communities will be included in the settlement blocs,” and settlements along the Green Line will not be evacuated, he noted.
Speaking at the “Shabbat of Culture” event in Holon, sponsored by Yedioth Ahronoth, Dichter said that the second withdrawal would be based on the model of the earlier evacuation of four northern Samaria settlements and would not emulate the evacuation of Gaza last August.
According to the plan, the Olmert government would carry out a “civilian withdrawal,” in which residents of isolated settlements outside settlement blocs would be evacuated, but the IDF would continue to control the areas. “The disengagement will be from the settlements but not from the land,” Dichter said. Security control over those areas will remain in Israel’s hands, he stressed.
Dichter clarified that he distinguishes between military disengagement, which he opposes, and civilian disengagement, which he approves
of as part of a temporary solution in the West Bank.
“We have no intention of carrying out a military withdrawal because we don’t have a partner that will combat terrorism. The stage of fully transferring West Bank territories (to the Palestinians) will only take place after a Palestinian Authority is established the can prove it will fight terrorism,” Dichter said.
Behind closed doors, Kadima is speaking of seven settlement blocs in the West Bank, Yedioth has learned. The seven are as follows: Four large blocs, including Ma’aleh Adumim, Ariel, Gush Etzion and the Jordan Rift Valley; and three smaller blocs including Karnei Shomron-Kedumim, Ofrah-Beit El, and Hebron-Kiryat Arba. The intention is to evacuate isolated settlements and relocate their residents into nearby settlements.
The group of settlements that will be “folded into” the blocs include a few extreme right-wing strongholds such as Elon Moreh, Yitzhar, Itamar, Tapuah and Har Bracha in Samaria; isolated settlements in the Binyamin area such as Eli, Shiloh, Ateret, Halamish and Pisgot; communities east of Gush Etzion including Noqdim, Teqoa, Ma’aleh Amos and Meitzad; and Pnei Hever, Maon, Carmel and Atanel south of Mount Hebron.
Yael Levi contributed to this report
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