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Israeli parliament passes a Gaza Strip pullout plan

Israeli border police try to remove some of the hundreds of Jewish settlers gathered to demonstrate the authorities' dismantlement of unauthorized settlement outposts in the northern West Bank in this file photo of May 17 last year. PHOTO: AP

Israel's parliament removed the last legislative obstacle before implementation of this summer's pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank, easily passing the tardy state budget and saving Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government from collapse.

The vote late on Tuesday was 58 to 36 with one abstention, a mis-leadingly wide margin for a government battered by opposition to the pullout plan. If the budget had not passed by today, Sharon would have had to resign, delaying or scuttling the withdrawal. Parliamentary opponents of the pullout, even in Sharon's own party, voted against the budget with that goal in mind.

But Sharon pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in special spending to three parties to gain their votes, ensuring a majority.

On Monday, the parliament rebuffed efforts to call a referendum, which would have delayed the pullout for months and might have brought down the government.

With the end of the parliamentary maneuvering, settlers and their backers pledged to take to the streets with their struggle against the plan to remove all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank.

Security officials fear increasingly desperate settlers will resort to violence, including an attempt to attack a disputed holy site in Jerusalem or assassinate Sharon.

Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra said he picked up a warning that extremists among the settlers might open fire on soldiers who come to evacuate them.

In recent weeks, several hundred people have moved to Gaza to bolster opposition.
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