Israel's Cabinet has given strong support to a key element of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza and four West Bank settlements, setting up what is expected to be a fiery two-day parliamentary debate on the controversial program.
The debate, starting yesterday afternoon, is the first time parliament will have a chance to discuss the "unilateral disengagement" plan since Sharon unveiled it earlier this year. Sharon is expected to win a preliminary vote on the plan scheduled for today, but only with the support of dovish opposition parties.
PHOTO: AP
In Gaza, scores of Israeli armored vehicles moved into the Khan Younis refugee camp in an operation the army said was sparked by recent mortar attacks on nearby Israeli settlements. The raid, punctuated by repeated air strikes, killed eight Palestinians and wounded 40, doctors said.
Two Israeli soldiers were wounded when Palestinians fired an anti-tank missile at their armored personnel carrier, the army said. Among the wounded Palestinians were 14 youths shot with machine guns as they threw rocks at soldiers, witnesses said.
The army said it demolished the home of a local Hamas leader who was responsible for attacks that killed eight Israelis.
Violence in Gaza has increased in the months since Sharon announced his plan, with Palestinian militants trying to prove they are forcing Israel out, and Israel trying to crush the militants to show it is not withdrawing under fire.
Sharon says his plan is necessary to boost Israel's security after four years of fighting with the Palestinians. He says the pullout, combined with a West Bank barrier under construction, also would enable Israel to strengthen its hold on large settlement blocs in the West Bank, where most settlers live.
Jewish settlers accuse Sharon of caving in to Palestinian violence and fear the withdrawal will be the first step in a larger pullback.
The disengagement plan, which would mark the first time Israel pulled down Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza since capturing those territories in 1967, has led to bitter divisions in Sharon's Likud Party, with many of its hardline lawmakers opposed to it.
Nevertheless, his Cabinet passed a key part of the plan, a compensation program for settlers who are to be evicted from their homes next year, by a 13 to six vote on Sunday.
The Cabinet victory, though expected, gave Sharon important momentum in the run-up to a far more important test today, when the Knesset, Israel's parliament, is to vote for the first time on the entire withdrawal plan. Sharon is expected to win that vote, but he needs a strong majority to marginalize his opponents.
"The train has left the station, the implementation is under way," government spokesman Raanan Gissin said of Sharon's plan. "After the Knesset vote on Tuesday [today] we will be in an irreversible process."
A victory today does not ensure that Sharon's plan will be adopted. Parliament and the Cabinet will have to vote at least once more -- and perhaps several more times -- to approve actual evacuations, and Sharon's government could fall on other issues, including the budget, before the plan is implemented.
Sunday's Cabinet vote endorsed guidelines for compensating the estimated 8,800 settlers slated to be forced from their homes next year.
The plan would pay affected settler families between US$200,000 and US$350,000 in compensation. Sharon hopes settlers will accept cash advances to leave well ahead of the official evacuation, heading off confrontations between settlers and troops.
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