- JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ruled out a freeze of settlement activity during
a meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Sharon's office said
Monday.
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- "Our finest youth live there. They are already the
third generation, contributing to the state and serving in elite army units.
They return home and get married, so then they can't build a house and
have children?", Sharon was quoted as telling Powell.
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- Powell met Sharon Sunday in Jerusalem as part of a regional
tour aimed at promoting the roadmap for peace in the Middle East, a three-phase
plan aimed at ending the violence and creating a Palestinian state within
three years.
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- The blueprint calls on the Palestinians to crack down
on radical militants but also demands Israel freeze settlement activity
and pull back to pre-intifada lines.
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- Sharon reiterated that what he describes as "Jewish
communities" should be allowed to "grow naturally" and asked
Powell: "What do you want, for a pregnant woman to have an abortion
just because she is a settler?"
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- Sharon made his comments during a lunch on Sunday which
was also attended by Housing Minister Effi Eitam, Transport Minister Avigdor
Lieberman, both from the extreme-right, and Justice Minister Tommy Lapid,
from the centrist Shinui party.
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- "What we talked about was the fact that the settlements
are a problem," Powell said of his meeting with Sharon in an interview
with Israel's second channel.
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- "Is it possible to bring about a viable Palestinian
state without doing something about the settlements activity?" he
asked. "This will be one of the most difficult issues we have to deal
with."
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- Around 220,000 settlers inhabit around 160 sites in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, in addition to 200,000 other Israelis in 12 sites
in annexed East Jerusalem, which was occupied in 1967.
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