Netanyahu rival speaks of West Bank withdrawal

JERUSALEM, Feb 06 (AFP): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main rival in an April election has raised the possibility of pulling back from the occupied West Bank, in remarks published Wednesday that drew right-wing criticism.

Benny Gantz, the former armed forces chief of staff, spoke positively of Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip in 2005, in his first interview since launching his election campaign last week.

The Gaza withdrawal had been "approved by the Israeli government and implemented by the army and settlers in a painful but good way", he told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

"(One should) learn from it and apply it to other places," he said.

Gantz did not explicitly mention the West Bank in his remarks and refrained from outlining the conditions for any pullback from the Palestinian territory.