Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave a strong indication on Monday that he will delay the withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip to avoid clashing with a Jewish mourning period.
Asked about reports that he would put back by three weeks the operation currently due to start on July 20, Sharon said: ”I think a decision will be taken tomorrow [Tuesday] during a meeting of the Cabinet subcommittee” that has been established to coordinate the withdrawal.
”These are difficult days … and we must do everything we can to facilitate the evacuation,” he added.
The head of the disengagement office, Jonathan Bassi, had suggested at a Cabinet meeting on Sunday that the month-long operation be postponed to allow observant Jews to mourn the destruction of the second Jewish Temple.
The day to commemorate the breaching of the walls of Jersualem in 70 AD falls this year on August 14, when many Jews will observe a 24-hour fast.
A source close to Sharon had said the premier was studying the proposal but was wary of agreeing to a delay, which could lead to disruption for pupils at the start of the new school year.
”We have already thought about this, but there is a problem over the start of the school year, which begins on September 1,” the source said.
All 8 000 Gaza settlers and several hundred living in four small Jewish enclaves in the northern West Bank are due to be uprooted from their homes as part of the prime minister’s so-called disengagement plan, which is designed to ease pressure for a comprehensive Israeli pull-out from the occupied West Bank.
Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, on a visit to Paris, confirmed that a delay is on the cards.
”I think that, for religious reasons, we can delay [the withdrawal] by two or three weeks,” Peres told French television station LCI.
”After all, this is not such a big difference, and towards the end of July or beginning of August, we will be out of Gaza,” he added.
Interior Minister Ofer Pines, a member of the centre-left Labour party, warned against any postponement to the pull-out.
”Such a decision would be a serious mistake, which would make the pull-out much more difficult,” Pines told public radio.
One of the leaders of the settler movement, Pinhas Wallerstein, said he was amazed that Sharon had set a start date for the operation without looking at a Jewish calendar.
”But perhaps the idea that this operation takes place during a period of mourning is entirely appropriate, as it will also involve the destruction of Jews’ homes,” Wallerstein, a senior member of the Yesha settlers’ council, told army radio.
”The actual date matters very little. The important thing is to prevent this evacuation,” he added. — Sapa-AFP