Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday that Israel would need to scrap further West Bank settlements under any final peace deal with Palestinians, but would never cede its biggest enclaves in the occupied territory.‘‘Not all the settlements in Judea and Samaria today will remain. when (we have completed) the last stage of the ‘road map’,’’ Sharon said, using the biblical names for the West Bank and referring to an internationally backed peace plan.But he stressed that any such decision would only be part of a permanent peace accord. Sharon did not say how many more settlements might be abandoned. There are some 140 settlements in the West Bank.Sharon reiterated, however, that Israel would never give up West Bank settlement blocs where the the vast majority of 245,000 settlers live among 2.4 million Palestinians.He also said Israel would not withdraw unilaterally from further territory, and any further land handovers would come only as part of a final peace deal.Also on Monday, Egypt’s intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, met Palestinian leaders and militant factions in Gaza at the start of a mission to ensure its 1.4 million Palestinians can cross its borders more freely after Israeli troops are out.Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie voiced confidence that the ceasefire Abbas declared with Sharon would hold. —Reuters
