A week before Israel’s upcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came under attack on Wednesday from one of his strongest rivals, who polls show could challenge him for the leadership of the ruling Likud party.
Former finance minister Benjamin Natanyahu, who resigned on Sunday to protest the withdrawal, called on legislators to block the pull-out.
”Only we in the Knesset can stop this evil,” Netanyahu said in his first speech to Parliament since his resignation.
”I’m calling on all those who grasp the danger: gather strength and do the right thing. I don’t know if the entire move can be stopped, but it still might stopped in its initial stages,” the hard-line former premier said.
Two polls published in the Israeli media, meanwhile, showed that Natanyahu would win over the leadership of the Likud if party primaries were held.
A poll published in the Ha’aretz daily on Wednesday, which questioned 526 Likud members on Monday and had a 4% margin of error, indicated Netanyahu would get 35% of party member votes, as opposed to 29% for Sharon.
An earlier poll released by Israel’s Channel 10 news on Tuesday night showed Netanyahu winning 42% in a Likud leadership race, as opposed to Sharon’s 27,1%.
Netanyahu stunned Israel on Sunday when he submitted his letter of resignation during a Cabinet session that was voting to ratify the first phase of the Gaza withdrawal.
Sharon’s Likud rejected the Gaza pull-out in an internal party referendum last year, but the premier went ahead with planning and pushing it through Parliament and the Cabinet regardless, leading some observers to call him a prime minister without a party.
Israel and the Palestinians, meanwhile, agreed in a meeting late on Tuesday on the question of demolition of settlers’ houses in Gaza.
Under the agreement, Israel will destroy part of the settlements, while Palestinian and Egyptian contractors will demolish the rest and take care of the clean-up under the supervision of the World Bank.
The deal was reached during a Tuesday-night meeting in Jerusalem between Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan.
Hazardous materials are to be transferred to Israel for supervised burial.
The Israeli evacuation of all of its 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, as well as four isolated ones in the northern West Bank, is due to start officially next Monday, with a 48-hour period for settlers to leave voluntarily.
After this, from August 17, soldiers and police will evacuate them by force if needed. — Sapa-DPA