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Israeli Cabinet Passes Gaza Bill Before Key Vote
Sun Oct 24, 2004 07:09 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet passed a bill on the nuts and bolts of pulling out of occupied Gaza Sunday, a day before he seeks approval from Israel's parliament for his withdrawal plan. The plan would for the first time uproot Jewish settlements from land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians want for a state. It has thrown Israeli politics into turmoil and stirred warnings of civil strife. In a sign of opposition to Sharon close to home, six cabinet members -- five from his right-wing Likud party -- voted against the bill for compensating settlers who leave and punishing those who resist. It was supported by 13. Settlers are expected to get up to $500,000 per family for quitting the 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank next year. Any who clash with the soldiers evicting them face up to five years in jail. "The law will make things as easy as possible for the settlers who will be evacuated and I am certain that even those who oppose the disengagement plan will not want to make things difficult for the settlers," Sharon said at the start of the session. Once the settlers' champion, Sharon has become the target of their ire. They stake a Biblical claim to the land and say that leaving it will reward and encourage Palestinian attacks in a 4-year-old uprising. Sharon says his plan for "disengagement" from years of conflict with the Palestinians will make Israel easier to defend while strengthening its hold on West Bank settlements far bigger than those in Gaza -- all with Washington's support.
WARNINGS OF STRIFE Within Israel, each side in the debate warns that the other risks kindling civil war. Some settler leaders have encouraged troops to refuse orders to remove settlers. Security has been stepped up around Sharon amid fears of an assassination attempt. Most Palestinians suspect the initiative will spell an end to any peace negotiations and leave them only with impoverished Gaza and without a viable state in the West Bank. Sharon, a former general, is due to bring his plan before parliament Monday for a debate that is certain to be stormy and expected to lead to a vote late Tuesday. If the vote goes against Sharon, it could spell the end of the withdrawal plan and his government. The plan -- which polls show to have the support of most Israelis -- is widely expected to pass with about 67 votes in the 120-member Knesset, but only because Sharon would have left-wing opposition parties behind him. Sharon's own Likud is split down the middle over giving up settlements, a break with its traditional vision. In a blow for Sharon's hopes of broad parliamentary support, the spiritual leader of the influential ultra-Orthodox Shas party ordered its 11 lawmakers Saturday to vote against the plan, calling the plan "a real danger to the people of Israel." Even if Sharon wins parliamentary approval this week, his government could be brought down by an imminent debate over the 2005 budget, if Likud rebels side with the Labor opposition as a way to stop the withdrawal from Gaza. Actually abandoning settlements would also require another vote in March. Violence in the coastal territory of 8,000 Jews and 1.3 million Palestinians has soared in anticipation of a withdrawal. Militants want to claim a pullout as a victory while the army is bent on destroying them first. Israeli forces killed two militants from the Islamic Jihad group in a missile strike on southern Gaza early Sunday, Palestinian witnesses said.
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