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As violence between Israel and Palestinians drags on, Sharon's popularity wanes, poll says

By Greg Myre, Associated Press, 8/17/2001 15:12

JERUSALEM (AP) Barely 20 percent of Israelis believe Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can end the Mideast violence, and his level of support is slipping, according to a poll published Friday.

Sharon, meanwhile, made a military tour of the Gaza Strip to visit Israeli soldiers in the volatile region, and Israeli forces and Palestinians clashed in a nearby part of Gaza.

Eight Palestinians were wounded, four of them seriously, in Rafah, a Palestinian town in Gaza along the border with Egypt, according to doctors at Rafah hospital. The Israeli army said its troops came under fire from Palestinians and shot back.

Sharon toured Gush Katif, a collection of Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip, his office said. The settlements have come under frequent attack by Palestinians.

It was not clear where Sharon was when the shooting broke out. The southern end of the Gush Katif settlements are less than a mile from Rafah.

Also Friday, Israeli police stopped a car entering Israel from the West Bank, overpowered two Palestinians inside and found a powerful bomb that weighed 22 pounds, police said.

After the car was stopped, police evacuated the Israeli Arab town of Baka al-Gharbiyah. A bomb-disposal robot then fired four bullets at the bomb, exploding it on the main street of the town. There were no injuries.

Police said the two men arrested belong to the militant group Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for many bombings.

A pair of Palestinian suicide bombings during the past week appeared to diminish support for Sharon, who won a landslide victory in February with the promise that he would end the Palestinian uprising.

A Gallup poll published in the Maariv newspaper said only 21 percent of Israelis believed he could end the violence, while 70 percent said he would not. Nine percent said they did not know.

In a Gallup poll last month, 43 percent believed Sharon could end the violence, and 41 percent disagreed.

Sharon's own standing also took a beating, with 49 percent of the people approving of his performance as prime minister, while 42 percent expressed dissatisfaction. In last month's poll, 59 percent said they were satisfied.

The latest poll questioned 593 Israeli adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

With the Mideast violence dragging into its 11th month, a growing number of Israeli politicians are talking about the possibility of Israel taking unilateral steps to separate itself from the Palestinians.

The Haaretz newspaper said a number of politicians were setting up a movement to push for unilateral separation, including Cabinet minister Dalia Itzik, and former minister Haim Ramon, both from the moderate Labor party, along with Michael Eitan from Sharon's hard-line Likud and Dan Meridor, leader of the Center party.

Separation efforts could include building a fence between Israel and the West Bank. Israeli troops now man checkpoints on the roads, but most of the border area can be crossed on foot.

Such plans would have to address how to handle the 200,000 Jewish settlers scattered throughout the West Bank.

Israeli opponents of unilateral separation say it would mean handing over large parts of the West Bank to the Palestinians without a peace accord.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2001