Arab Israeli Parliament Member Ahmed Tibi said Wednesday in Cairo that Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories were turning to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to help find buyers for their homes.
"Representatives of settlers in several settlements have come to see me ... and offered to sell their homes in the settlements" to Palestinians, Tibi told reporters in Cairo, where he met with Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.
"They've told me the Sharon government forbids them, for political reasons, from leaving the settlements to set up home in Israel," he charged, referring to the government of Israel's right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Tibi said he had passed on the proposal to the Palestinian leader, adding that it involved "dozens of homes" but without naming any of the particular settlements, according to AFP.
"The Palestinians do not buy properties in the settlements because they have been established on Palestinian land. That is the position" of Arafat, explained Tibi.
The settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been a key target for attack by Palestinians since the September 2000 outbreak of the uprising against Israeli occupation. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
