Too Explicit

Well, if we are getting "explicit", as it's Israel that's doing the stripping here, can we not have some good music from the good ol' US of A?

Or is it that Ariel Sharon is stripping Israel of its security, its Zionism and its future?

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28/03/2005
PM: We can't expect explicit U.S. okay to build in settlements
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent

"We can't expect to receive explicit American agreement to build freely in the settlements," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said at Sunday's cabinet meeting. The large blocs of settlement in the West Bank "will remain in Israel's hands and will fall within the (separation) fence, and we made this position clear to the Americans. This is our position, even if they express reservations," he said.

The U.S. administration makes a distinction between his position that the blocs will remain in Israeli hands after the final status agreement, and the issues of continuing construction in the settlements at the present phase, Sharon said.

"The Americans always expressed criticism about construction in the settlements, and they have done so now, too. The publicity (about the plan to connect Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem - A.B.) put them in a very difficult spot," he said.