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Israel, On Its Own, Is Shaping the Borders of the West Bank
(New York Times) Steven Erlanger Israel under Sharon is unilaterally moving to define its future borders with a Palestinian state - with the scheduled withdrawal from Gaza and from four small settlements in the northern West Bank, with the "thickening" of settlements near Jerusalem and the Israeli border, and with a new route for the Israeli separation barrier approved by the cabinet on Feb. 20. The likely impact of the provisional new border on Palestinian life is, perhaps surprisingly, smaller than generally assumed, and it would leave about a quarter of Israeli settlers on the Palestinian side. 99.5% of Palestinians would live outside the barrier, in 92% of the West Bank. Within the new route of the barrier but outside the "green line" are some 177,000 Israelis living mostly in large settlement blocs - about 74% of Israeli settlers. Another 26%, about 63,000, live in the West Bank beyond the barrier.