A hawkish minister is trying to rally support in the Israeli Cabinet for a far less generous alternative to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to withdraw from most of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.
The plan floated by Transport Minister Avigdor Lieberman would confine the Palestinians to four isolated cantons in the West Bank.
Lieberman, from the far-right National Union, sent letters on Sunday to 10 ministers from Sharon's Likud Party and another hardline coalition party calling on them to unite around his plan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"The issue is not to torpedo the prime minister's initiative, but to present an alternative," Lieberman told Israel Radio.
On Monday, members of the far-right parties abstained or stayed away from votes on parliamentary no-confidence motions in Sharon's government, showing their displeasure with Sharon's plans. The motions were defeated anyway, 53-45.
Coming from a small, hawkish party, Lieberman's plan has little chance of success. But it reflects the growing opposition that Sharon faces within his government as he pushes forward with a plan to separate Israel from the Palestinians.
Several coalition partners, including the National Union, have threatened to leave the government if Sharon carries out his plan.
Sharon has proposed withdrawing from most of the Gaza Strip and some West Bank settlements in a one-sided move if there is no progress in the US-backed "road map" peace plan in the next few months.
The road map calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The plan has been stalled for months, with both sides failing to fulfill their obligations.
While the US formally remains committed to the plan, US officials have recently indicated they could support Sharon's plan.
"It is clear to the US that the `road map' can only be spoken of in the past tense, and so now is the optimum time to present a new initiative," Lieberman told the station.
He has proposed fencing the Palestinians into four isolated cantons in the West Bank with Israel controlling access between them. The Gaza Strip would apparently be entirely under Israeli control.
Lieberman said he had sent letters to all the Cabinet ministers who have not publicly come out in support for Sharon's plan, including Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In other developments, Palestinian hospital officials in the Gaza Strip said a 46-year-old man had been shot in the head by Israeli troops near Rafah and died. The man was identified as Jamal al-Afifi.
The army said Palestinian gunmen had opened fire at troops in the area, which is near the Egyptian border, and that the soldiers returned fire. It had no information on Palestinian casualties.
Meanwhile, hospital officials in Gaza City said Mohammed Saleh Zu'rob, 28, had died from wounds sustained during an Israeli incursion into the Rafah refugee camp last week. That raised the Palestinian death toll from last Wednesday's fighting to 16, making it the bloodiest day in Gaza in more than a year.
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