Sharon says Israel will leave Gaza by the end of 2005

"Disengagement is on its way," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said after the meeting. "The cabinet has decided that by the end of 2005 Israel intends to leave the Gaza Strip and four settlements in Samaria."

Sharon said this was a step of critical importance for the future of Israel, "that would contribute to its security, its political standing, its economy, and to the demographics of the Jewish people in the land of Israel."

The cabinet plans to complete evacuation of all settlements and military installations in the Gaza Strip by the end of 2005, plus four settlements and military installations in the northern West Bank.

The 25 settlements to be evacuated will be divided into four groups, and their settlers will receive "fair and appropriate" compensation to be determined by special legislation.

Sharon told the cabinet the preparation period would end next March 1. However, a senior source said it could end "much sooner, in November or December this year, and then we could move to a decision on evacuation."

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom left for Cairo on Monday to discuss future security arrangements in Gaza with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman.

Several stumbling blocks appeared during the meeting. When it started at 11:00 A.M., it was clear that Absorption Minister Tzippi Livni still had work to do. She was crafting a compromise to sway the three senior ministers threatening to vote against the plan - Benjamin Netanyahu, Silvan Shalom, and Limor Livnat.

But then, Justice Edmond Levy, who heard the petition of the two National Union ministers, Benyamin Eilon and Avigdor Lieberman, against their dismissal criticized Sharon, saying there was "no logic in the haste with which the dismissal letters were sent."

Levy also recommended that the vote be delayed until tomorrow. But the prime minister ordered Attorney General Menny Mazuz to answer Justice Levy and say, "the prime minister is unable to respond favorably to the court's request for a number of reasons."

Tourism Minister Benyamin Elon surprised ministers when he appeared at the cabinet meeting, although he had been sent a dismissal letter. He said he would stay and vote because his dismissal was not effective until 4:00 P.M. Discussion of the disengagement plan began in the early hours of the afternoon and Elon delivered a stinging attack on the prime minister.

"We have reached the point where the state is behaving undemocratically," he said. "A whole faction has been fired so the prime minister will have a majority, and he is not even embarrassed to state this publicly. What will happen if he doesn't have a majority? Will he fire another three ministers?"

During the meeting, Justice Minister Yosef Lapid called his Shinui faction colleagues for a consultation to demand that Sharon include in the cabinet decision a mention of the exact date when settlement evacuation would begin. However, it was decided that Sharon would just announce the March 1, 2005 date for the end of preparations for evacuation.

At that point, a new problem appeared when Ministers Netanyahu, Shalom, and Livnat expressed opposition to including as an appendix to the cabinet decision letters exchanged by U.S. President George Bush and Sharon. They left the meeting and a crisis seemed to be brewing, but an hour later a compromise was found - the letters would be "presented herein," not added as an appendix.

Netanyahu, Shalom, and Livnat, who last week had demanded far-reaching changes in the plan, had to make do with insignificant semantic changes. For example, the first clause of the decision states that "nothing in this decision involves the evacuation of settlements."

However, Appendix A states clearly that "the state of Israel will evacuate settlements in the Gaza Strip... and with the completion of the move by 2005 in the areas that are to be evacuated in the land area of the Gaza Strip there will be no permanent Israeli military presence."

The name of the plan was also changed, from "the prime minister's disengagement plan" to "the revised disengagement plan." The words "the evacuation will be complete by 2005" was changed to read, "the intention is to complete the evacuation by the end of 2005."

Absorption Minister Tzippi Livni, who had engineered most of the compromise stated, "we approved the process. We're on our way." The major achievement of Netanyahu, Shalom, and Livnat was that any decision on evacuation will be brought to a debate and vote before the full cabinet after the preparation period.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who had played an important part in the compromise said, with a veiled reference to the Likud Central Committee, "the decision we took does not include agreement to evacuate settlements. Another vote will be needed before evacuation, which will be examined on the basis of the progress of the Palestinians."

In commenting on the vote, deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert said he hoped the National Religious Party (NRP) would not leave the coalition. "There is a basis for a continued partnership between us," he said. Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said he hoped the NRP would "not follow the National Union and abandon the coalition." Lapid also expressed the hope that "perhaps today the peace process with the Palestinian people has begun, although the step we have decided on is unilateral."

Israel will be transmitting an official version of the revised disengagement plan to the U.S. administration on Monday. On Sunday, a short time before the vote, Israel's ambassador in Washington, Danny Ayalon, updated the deputy head of the National Security Council, Stephen Hadley, and the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, William Burns, on the details of the plan, and both said they welcomed the government decision. An official American response to the plan is expected on Monday.

Later this week the disengagement steering committee, headed by national security advisor Giora Eiland, will meet. The committee has been operating for the past four months under the prime minister's instructions.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/435566.html