Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to decide by the weekend whether to put off this summer's Gaza pullout for three weeks, accommodating a religious holiday period but possibly signaling uncertainty and weakness in the face of settler opposition.
A stormy meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday ended with no decision. Both Sharon and his defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, came down on both sides of the issue.
The confusion reflected growing complaints that the government is not ready to carry out the evacuation of 9,000 settlers -- it has yet to figure out where they will go.
The scheduling issue is that the evacuation of all 21 Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank would coincide with the annual period of mourning observant Jews mark for the destruction of the biblical Temples, leading up to the fast day of Tisha B'Av on Aug. 14.
On the one hand, Sharon does not want the Gaza pullout to be added to the list of Jewish catastrophes associated with Tisha B'Av. On the other hand, he is aware that a delay could be seen as weakness and could energize opponents to redouble efforts to scuttle the plan.
According to a statement from his office, Sharon backed the original late July starting date during the Tuesday ministerial meeting. "I really want to help them [the settlers] in any way possible, but delaying the implementation of the plan can create many complications," he said.
But just a day earlier, he told reporters he was "positively inclined" to agree to the three-week delay. An aide said he would decide by the weekend.
Security officials said that during the meeting, Mofaz was cool to the postponement. Later, during a stormy visit to the Gaza settlements, Mofaz was sympathetic. "Residents have made the request, and it could make things easier," he told Army Radio. "I believe that anything that can make it easier should be done."
Some Cabinet ministers suggested the delay would be needed to give the government more time to iron out the hang-ups in withdrawal preparations.
After fighting the plan for months, settlers have only recently started negotiating with the government over compensation, and committees have only been set up in the past few days to decide on the many complex issues involved in the evacuation, such as finding housing for uprooted settlers.
"It is very difficult to carry out the disengagement when there is no cooperation from the settlers. In order for it to be organized there has to be dialogue," Vice Premier Shimon Peres said.
Some officials expressed concern that the proposed delay might scuttle the evacuation altogether. "Any delay would broadcast weakness. Any delay would broadcast vacillation," said Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz, whose dovish Labor Party recently joined the government to support the pullout.
Sharon rejected accusations that the government is unprepared. "Everything we are doing now is above and beyond the decisions that were already made," he said.
Israel initially proposed the Gaza withdrawal as a unilateral act, but has said it is willing to coordinate the pullout with the new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. Mofaz said he would begin coordination meetings this week.
Abbas met with Israeli reporters on Tuesday, where he announced that the Palestinians have collected weapons from militants in two West Bank towns turned over to Palestinian control. Abbas has come under heavy pressure by Israel and the US to rein in the militants.
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