Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, setting out a vision of the nation's ‘future permanent borders,’ has listed settlement blocs Israel would retain under a future peace deal or unilateral withdrawal, stressing that Ariel would be part of Israel and be included within the West Bank fence.
‘When speaking of the permanent borders, the future borders of Israel, the settlement blocs and the Jordan Rift Valley are included within them,’ Mofaz said in remarks broadcast on Army Radio Monday.
The list of blocs went somewhat beyond a similar list which Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert detailed three weeks ago during a television interview.
But it also indicated that a number of settlement blocs would not be retained. Mofaz made no mention of the South Mount Hebron bloc, the Ofra-Beit El bloc, Itamar-Elon Moreh, and Shavei Shomron.
‘We can list the settlement blocs. We are speaking of Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, Efrat, the Ariel area, Karnei Shomron, Reihan and Shaked.
‘These are the blocs of which we are speaking, and it is also the response regarding Ariel. Ariel is a vital and well-established city in Israel. It will be entirely within the fence.’
Ariel, second only to Ma'aleh Adumim in population among settlement-cities, is unusual in that it is located well within the pre-1967 war Green Line border between Israel and the West Bank.