Election Delays Hebron Pullout

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Shimon Peres will decide within in a week whether to proceed with the withdrawal of troops from the West Bank town of Hebron. The pullback, which was supposed to have begun in March, was put on hold after suicide bombings that killed 63. Worried about recent warnings of terrorist attacks by groups opposed to the peace process with the Palestinians, Peres has said he might consider postponing the withdrawal. A might be the politically smart thing to do as elections approach, says Jerusalem Bureau Chief Lisa Beyer: "The pullout from Hebron is certainly going to entail the necessity of cracking down on fanatical settlers who live there and it will be a very ugly picture to have on the eve of Israeli elections," says Beyer. The pullout plan described in the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement requires Israeli soldiers to leave Palestinian neighborhoods and redeploy in Jewish enclaves. Today only 450 Jews live in a city of 94,000 Palestinians, but that number could grow if hard-line candidate Benjaman Netanyahu is elected. However, a majority of Israelis support Peres on the pullout issue, says Beyer. "Most Israelis have a visceral feeling for the settlers because they are Israelis, but these settlers have been so badly behaved that the mainstream Israeli opinion has written them off."