Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was tinkering with his “disengagement” plan on Tuesday to scale down the evacuation of Jewish settlements after his ruling Likud party rejected his original, United States-backed proposal.
According to the Haaretz daily, Sharon is now considering the evacuation of only three Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip instead of all 21, and two in the West Bank instead of four.
The watered-down pull-out plan, although unofficial, could be proposed by Sharon in an effort to win the approval of the government and Parliament.
Sharon fêted Washington’s unconditional support for his plan, which also provides for Israel’s continued sovereignty over some settlement blocs in the West Bank, as a diplomatic coup.
But Likud’s unequivocal rejection of his plan was a stinging setback for the premier, and despite wide public support for the plan, it is not guaranteed support from either the Cabinet or Parliament in its undiluted format.
“All those who think that the Likud leadership will stop its efforts to settle the conflict are wrong. I intend to present a plan including some amendments,” Sharon said on Monday.
“I will try to find a formula which achieves the widest possible consensus,” he said without elaborating.
He kicked off a series of consultations on Tuesday, starting with the centrist Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, who has threatened to pull his powerful Shinui party out of the ruling coalition if Sharon abandons the “political process” toward a settlement with the Palestinians.
Lapid said after his meeting with the right-wing premier that it has been agreed the plan will be discussed for the first time by the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday, stressing however that the original version will be on the table.
“I got the impression from my meeting with the prime minister that he does not intend to abandon his efforts, which should allow Shinui to stay in the government,” he said.
Sharon was also due to hold talks on Tuesday with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, whose declared backing for the plan was seen as a tactical move to save his portfolio rather than wholehearted support.
The premier was likewise expected to meet later the same day with Labour opposition leader Shimon Peres, who urged Sharon last Sunday to call for early elections, arguing that he was shackled by the extreme-right in his government.
An opinion poll published on Tuesday confirmed that Sharon’s plan has the support of a majority of the general public, with 62% of Israelis backing it.
The survey also showed that while card-holding Likud members voted down the plan on Sunday by 60% to 40%, 55% of people who normally vote for the party said they would support the plan.
Despite his efforts to make the plan more acceptable to Likud’s hardliners, Sharon still faces an uphill struggle to pass his “disengagement” initiative.
A high-ranking minister quoted on condition of anonymity by Israeli army radio warned that any fresh attempt by the premier to force through a new version of the plan would “trigger an intifada inside Likud”.
According to the radio, Sharon may finally agree to organise early polls if left with room to manoeuvre.
But the premier can only dissolve Parliament with the president’s approval.
If Sharon resigns, President Moshe Katsav has 21 days to find an MP who has the backing of 61 of the Knesset’s 120 deputies to form a new government. It is only if such a candidate does not emerge that early elections can be held. — Sapa-AFP
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