Israel to set up buffer zone

Sam Kiley12 April 2012

Israel's cabinet has approved plans to set up a "buffer zone" on the West Bank in the first stage of what is being seen as a bid to enforce separation between the two sides.

The move came after US secretary of state Colin Powell's weekend peace efforts failed to make any headway.

Mr Powell left for Beirut and Damascus this morning hoping to get Lebanon and Syria to rein in Hezbollah, the extremist Islamic movement, which has attacked Israel's northern border and its positions on the occupied Golan Heights repeatedly over the last two weeks.

US officials said that the situation was extremely grave on Israel's borders where an escalation was feared which could lead to a heavy Israeli response to Hezbollah's attacks on civilians and military targets.

Mr Powell met Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over the weekend. They both agreed that they would attend a regional summit, but attached conditions which were unlikely to be met. Mr Arafat insisted that Mr Sharon must end his occupation of the West Bank. Mr Sharon insisted that the Palestinians declare a ceasefire.

"We continued to examine ways to arrive at peace between Israel and her neighbours, and in the Middle East in general," Mr Sharon said in a speech after meeting Mr Powell in Tel Aviv.

"I said we are ready to have a regional conference in which a number of countries would participate - Israel, Egypt, the Saudis, Jordan, Morocco and Palestinian representatives. It doesn't have to be limited to these," Mr Sharon said.

A Saudi-inspired Arab peace proposal adopted by the Arab League three weeks ago calls on Israel to withdraw to the line which separated Arab and Jewish armies after an armistice in 1948 - the so called Green Line.

But so far Israel has rejected any such withdrawal. It has continued with its invasion of the West Bank in which hundreds of Palestinians are reported to have been killed, and more than 4,000 detained in a sweep for alleged terrorists behind bombings which have claimed more than 100 Israeli lives over the last month.

Yesterday the Israel cabinet agreed to finance a "buffer zone", sometimes three miles deep, which will include 30 miles of new fencing. Part of Mr Sharon's plan to curb terror attacks inside Israel, it will effectively seal most Palestinians off from Israel, allowing them to cross only very tightly controlled check points.

Interior minister Eli Yishai said: "It's true that the border cannot be sealed hermetically, but this is an excellent plan which will significantly decrease the encroachment of infiltrators."

Critics have warned that the plan is the first stage in unilateral separation by Israel which would lead the Palestinians trapped in economically dependent cantons surrounded by Israeli troops.

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