Israeli official sources reported on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leans to accept the recommendation of his defense minister Shaul Mofaz and retreat the cabinet decision to demolish settlers’ homes during the pullout process.
The Cabinet would eventually be forced to change its January decision, especially that the American administration supports keeping settlers’ homes intact.ÂÂ
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Israel is increasingly worries about both the image that the massive destruction would create worldwide and the coast of the massive demolishing, which is expected to arrive at NIS 150 million.
Palestinians are so far in favor of the removal of settlers’ homes, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has proposed that a joint Palestinian-Israeli committee should be formed to examine the issue.
Palestinian commentators believe that Abbas is not keen on keeping settlers’ homes intact, but attempting to infringe on difficulties Israel is facing in carrying out the disengagement as a unilateral act, hoping that the Israeli government would consider a coordinated pullout.ÂÂ
PA officials in the Gaza strip that the evacuated areas would constitute the only empty state owned land in the Gaza strip, saying that future investment should be carefully examined.
Few Israeli officials believe that the scene of the massive destruction of Sinai settlements during the implementation of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty in the early eighties, caused serious damage to Israel’s image.     ÂÂ
