United Nations Mideast envoy Terje Larsen on Wednesday hailed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" plan, and called on the international community to help in the evacuation of Gaza Strip settlers.
"No Israeli prime minister has previously had the boldness and the vision to say he will remove settlers - as long called for by the international community -- and initiate a plan for its implementation," Roed-Larsen told the Security Council in a closed session Wednesday, in which he presented his monthly report on the situation in the occupied territories.
But the sole viable approach to a withdrawal was to negotiate the terms in advance with the Palestinian Authority, and to seek help from the international community, as part of "the resumption of a vigorous peace process," he added.
Either a unilateral Israeli disengagement, as proposed by
Sharon, or a failure to achieve a withdrawal could lead to a further erosion of the Palestinian Authority, "and with it a growing disorder, chaos and possibly even gang rule in the occupied Palestinian territory," he warned.
The planned move of withdrawing from occupied territories must be welcomed by the world, Larsen said.
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
