Standing defiant amid fierce opposition from within his Cabinet and coalition, Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon said on Wednesday Israel will complete its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005, even if the pullout is carried out in stages.
“By 2005 there will not be any settlers left in Gaza,” the premier told the Knesset (Parliament) foreign affairs and defence committee.
Sharon said he intends to bring the withdrawal initiative to the Cabinet for a vote on Sunday and “the plan would be approved” even though he does not as yet have the backing of a majority of ministers.
Although determined efforts are under way to find a compromise that will ensure the backing of ministers opposed to Sharon’s intention of evacuating all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, and four isolated ones in the northern West Bank, the premier has said variations to the plan are irrelevant.
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid has been scuttling back and forth this week trying to broker a compromise with Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most prominent Cabinet opponent to Sharon’s plan.
Netanyahu wants a limited withdrawal of only three isolated settlements in the Gaza Strip.
But if Sharon caves in to Netanyahu’s demands, he will then face new opposition, this time from the United States, which has given unconditional support to the Israeli leader, at the cost of fierce criticism from Arab states.
Israeli media reported on Wednesday morning that US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has told Israeli officials the administration will not support any scaled-down withdrawal plan.
Paul Patin, spokesperson for the US embassy in Israel, said he knows of no changes in the plan to which US President George Bush agreed.
“President Bush supports the disengagement plan presented to him on April 14,” Patin said.
Sharon was forced to modify his original withdrawal plan after members of his Likud Party rejected it in a party referendum early last month.
The revised plan will see the evacuation carried out in stages, with each stage dependent on prior Cabinet approval.
However, even the revision has drawn opposition in Sharon’s coalition.
Most Cabinet rebels oppose Sharon’s plan either because they see an Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip as a reward for Palestinian militancy, or because they think any Israeli pullout from any parts of the occupied territories should not be unilateral, with Israel receiving nothing in return.
And some ministers from hardline parties oppose in principle any Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories.
Speculation in Israel this week has it that Sharon could fire two such ministers, from the ultra-hawkish National Union Party, a move that would give him majority backing for the plan among the remaining ministers, even if he does not appoint two new ministers from the ranks of pro-withdrawal coalition legislators. — Sapa-DPA
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