|
Talking Point
|
Feedback
|
Text Only
|
Help
|
Site Map
|
![image: [ Netanyahu (right) leans over to his Foreign Minister David Levy during cabinet talks ]](/olmedia/images/_41571_net_levy.jpg)
Settlers shouted: "We didn't vote for this!" and "Withdrawal will mean disaster!" as Benjamin Netanyahu updated his cabinet on recent discussions with the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright.
![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/images/_41571_protest.jpg)
Several West Bank settlements went on general strike and bussed municipal workers and students to Jerusalem for the protest.
One settler who handed out leaflets calling for Netanyahu to resign was arrested.
The settlers later demonstrated outside the US consulate in East Jerusalem, calling on Ms Albright to stop pressurising Israel to carry out the troop withdrawal.
Violence in Hebron
Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops in Hebron - youths threw stones and soldiers fired rubber bullets.
![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/images/_41571_pal_ap.jpg)
More soldiers are supposed to leave the West Bank town under the Oslo peace accords. But despite US pressure and Arab protests, that still has not happened.
Netanyahu's right-wing cabinet conditionally agreed earlier this month to the withdrawal but is still debating the scope and timing of such a move.
However, Netanyahu has insisted no more land will be ceded until the Palestinians take tougher action against armed Islamic militants.
In a speech on Friday, he said that the West Bank was part of Israel proper - a comment attacked by a Palestinian minister, Hanan Ashrawi, as a direct contradiction of the peace process.
Washington has demanded a "significant" withdrawal to breathe life into the peace process stalled for nine months, largely over Netanyahu's right-wing policies.
Netanyahu and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, are due to meet separately next month with US President Bill Clinton. The Israeli leader is under pressure to present his withdrawal plan at that time.
But Netanyahu said this weekend that Israel could not be pressured on such an issue and would not promise to have anything concrete to tell Clinton.
The Palestinians have warned that reported Israeli proposals to include only about 10% of the West Bank in the withdrawal would not be sufficient.
The cabinet said that before reaching a decision on the interim pullout, it must first decide what areas it considers vital to Israel's survival and so cannot be relinquished in any agreement.
Albright talks fail
(18 Dec 97 | World)
Palestinian National Authority
Israeli Foreign Ministry
US State Department
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Airliner with more than 80 aboard crashes in Bangladesh
Clinton appeals for harmony in Bosnia
Ruling party wins Serb elections
UN criticises but fails to condemn Iraq
Reindeer under threat
(From Sci/Tech)
Battle of the big guys is on!
(From Sport)
Former South Korean presidents freed from jail
Nikkei dives below key mark
(From Business)
Yeltsin back to work
Chechen rebels attack Russian troops
New Turkish-Greek row
Australia moves closer to republicanism
Pakistan 'hooked on heroin'
Nigerian opposition scorns reports of coup
Eurofighter future secured
(From Business)
Orphans get toys in Diana's memory
New hope for Britons held in Chechnya
Iraq and UN agree new aid plan
Wreckage pushed away by tides
Urban rioting continues in France
IMF says Asia will recover
|
Talking Point
|
Feedback
|
Text Only
|
Help
|
Site Map
|