MIDDLE EAST: ISRAEL
Jewish settler groups reacted furiously to the announcement of a date for the vote.
Israel
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip will be put
to parliament in two weeks.
Speaking at the start of a new session of parliament,
Mr Sharon said the plan would be debated on 25 October. Under the terms
of the plan, troops and 8,000 Jewish settlers would begin to leave early in
2005. Parliament later rejected Mr Sharon's speech setting out his plans
for Gaza by 53 votes to 44. However the vote is not binding on the government.
The announcement of the date for a debate on the disengagement plan came as
Israel continued military operations against suspected Palestinian militants
in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel has occupied Gaza, home to 1.3m
Palestinians, since 1967. Mr Sharon's announcement of a prompt debate means
that MPs will vote on the actual proposals just a day after the Israeli
cabinet discusses the plan. Promising "constant supervision" of the progress
of the plan, Mr Sharon added: "We will reserve the right to determine the
state of security and adapt the plan to the reality, with the main priority of
defending ourselves and preventing terror." The disengagement plan has been
welcomed in Washington but Mr Sharon has found it harder to win political
support at home. Earlier this year, members of his Likud faction voted against
the proposals in a referendum. And Mr Sharon no longer enjoys a majority in
the Knesset after two small pro-settler parties withdrew their support for his
ruling coalition. The prime minister has vowed to press ahead with the plan
and hopes to win support for the plan from left-wing opposition MPs.
If
the MPs reject the plan then the whole process could grind to a halt, our
correspondent adds. Leader of the opposition Labour party Shimon Peres
insisted that Mr Sharon could not count on his party's support. Alluding to
comments last week by Mr Sharon's chief of staff Dov Weisglass, who told an
Israeli newspaper that the disengagement plan would effectively "freeze" the
peace process, Mr Peres said: "This government gives the impression it is
trying to flee from peace rather than make peace." In his address to the
Knesset Mr Sharon countered claims that Israel was no longer supporting the
US-sponsored road map peace plan, blaming the long-standing political impasse
on Palestinian militant attacks. "As long as the Palestinians distance
themselves from their responsibilities there will be no advance in political
negotiations," he said. "Negotiations will be renewed when the Palestinian
meet their previous commitments. "The policy of my government is that there
will be no advance politically without the destruction of terror," he added.
Jewish settler groups reacted furiously to the announcement of a date for the
vote. The Yesha Council, an umbrella group for settlers, demanded that Mr
Sharon call early elections, claiming that his plan is "tearing apart the
nation". The plan also envisages an Israeli withdrawal from a number of
isolated Jewish settlements in the northern part of the West Bank.