Interview With Beilin

In an interview [excerpt] with Yosi Beilin, Israeli justice minister, by the Arab newspaper Kull al-Arab in Beilin's office in Jerusalem on 5 September, Beilin said the following: [Kull al-Arab] Concerning the issue of settlements in the occupied territories, are you for removing these settlements? [Beilin] I don't feel we have to. Removing the settlements on the Golan is essential and I accept it. However, what is important is the issue of sovereignty. Once a Palestinian state is established on most of the land in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, some settlements will stay under Palestinian sovereignty and the settlers will say: We want to stay under Palestinian sovereignty. So why should we-the Jews and the Arabs- tell them: You are banned from continuing to live there? The area of all the settlements totals 1.5 percent. So what would happen if these settlements stayed under Palestinian sovereignty, of course, if the settlers agreed to be subject to the Palestinian law, assuming that we do not want to get to the point of a real confrontation with the settlers. I believe that the population of all settlements, which will stay under Palestinian sovereignty in the context of the permanent solution, will move to live under Israeli sovereignty. Anyone who wants to accept Palestinian sovereignty and live under it can stay.