HERZLIYA, Israel, Dec 16 (AFP) - Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak called Thursday for isolated Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank to be evacuated.
"I support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, but we must immediately look at the next phase which can only be a separation between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank on the basis of two states for two peoples," Barak told a conference near Tel Aviv.
Barak, who resigned as opposition Labour party leader after losing the February 2001 general election to Sharon, was referring to the premier's plan to pull all troops and the 8,000 settlers out of the Gaza Strip next year.
Israeli "settlement in the heart of the Arab population has been a massive historic mistake for which we have paid the price up until now", Barak said.
"We have extended the settlement into places where we knew well there was no chance of staying," he said. "Once again our eyes were bigger than our stomach."
Barak said he envisaged the pullout from the isolated Jewish settlements as part of a larger plan which would see a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank.
His plan would see isolated settlers regrouped in existing blocs which would allow 75 percent of settlers in the West Bank to remain in the territory.
Sharon is currently in talks with Labour leader Shimon Peres to forge a national unity government to push through his so-called disengagement plan which will also see four small West Bank settlements evacuated.
Barak, 62, announced his return to Israel's political scene in November, almost four years after retiring to pursue a business career.
12/16/2004 15:34 GMT - AFP