Posted on 07/03/2005 5:08:58 AM PDT by IAF ThunderPilot
Government votes down proposal to delay disengagement by 18-3 margin. Earlier, Sharon urges ministers to speak out against far right violence. Meanwhile, Mofaz says IDF to man voluntarily evacuated northern West Bank homes in a bid to prevent radicals from taking over
JERUSALEM - Government ministers voted Sunday to reject a proposal by minister Yisrael Katz to delay the disengagement plan by 3 months.
The proposal was rejected by 18 ministers who voted against the bill, while 3 voted in favor: Katz, Health Minister Danny Naveh, and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon slammed government ministers over their silence in the face of far right violence in the Gaza Strip, and urged them to speak out against the problem.
“The ministers’ silence cannot continue,” he said during Sunday’s government session.
Sharon told ministers he instructed the internal security minister and police chief to prevent any right-wing anti-pullout disturbances.
“I would be glad if the ministers expressed themselves on the matter,” he said.
IDF to man evacuees' homes
Earlier in the session, Sharon said he is keen to prevent homes left behind by northern West Bank settlers from being used as fortresses by right-wing activists attempting to block the disnegagement plan.
“Extremists who plan on barricading themselves in these homes must be banned,” Sharon said during Sunday's government session. “IDF forces must be there to ensure that the extremists don’t move in,” he added.
Meanwhile, residents of the Ganim settlement in northern Samaria held a party to bid farewell to their community over the weekend.
They folded the flag, sang the national anthem, and packed their suitcases, ahead of their plan to voluntarily leave their homes.
During Sunday's session, Sharon responded to a survey conducted by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, which found that residents of the Ganim and Kadim settlements were willing to leave their homes voluntarily. Mofaz said that homes left by the settlers will be manned by the IDF.
Bibi maneuvers as disengagement vote nears
Sunday's government vote on the pullout delay came after a legislation committee voted to reject the bill, although Katz has appealed the decision.
A majority of Knesset members are committed to proceeding with the disengagement plan date as previously decided upon (August 15) is guaranteed, though attempts to delay the start of the operation seem certain to continue.
The bill will be brought before the Knesset on Wednesday, and Netanyahu has announced that he will not be present during the vote. In response, veiled threats have been issued by the Prime Minister’s Office hinting the finance minister may be sacked due to his refusal to take part in a decisive vote.
Sources close to Netanyahu have responded by saying that the prime minister lacks justification to sack the finance minister, pointing out that in 1997, Sharon voted against a plan to hand over Hebron to the Palestinian Authority, and later failed to appear in a Knesset vote on the issue.
Netanyahu, who was prime minister at the time, did not fire Sharon, and therefore, say the sources, there is no reason why the precedent set in ‘97 should be overturned.
Unlike Netanyahu, ministers Katz and Naveh have announced their intentions to vote with the government in the Knesset vote. Katz has also demanded that Labor party ministers vote with the government on Wednesday.
It is possible that Netanyahu will not turn up for Wednesday’s vote because he will attend a memorial ceremony for his brother, Yonatan, who was killed in an operation to rescue Israeli hostages held in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976.
Recently, the Right has been pressing and lobbying Netanyahu in an effort to making him “come off the fence” and take a public stand against the disengagement plan.
Ping!
What is to become of the infrastructure in the effected areas? Will they walk away or bulldoze?
Bulldoze.
Nobody wants to see terrorists dancing on the houses' roofs.
A Stab In The Heart [Video]
IsraelNationalNews - A Video on Gush Katif [Video]
The Nature Of Bruce ~
I wonder if this going be beginning of bloody summer in Israel I did see those settlers do LA Style riot near Gaza
The blood will come in months or years. Unlike anything seen before.
What a headline
Monday July 4, 5:06 AM
Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, is seen as Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon, second from left, looks on at the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office,
Sunday, July 3, 2005. Continued wrangling over the Gaza pullout has highlighted the bitter
political rivalry between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
a former prime minister. Netanyahu was expected to vote for a delay, in a challenge to Sharon.
Netanyahu also plans to be absent from a parliamentary vote Wednesday on the same issue,
and Sharon has threatened to fire him. (AP Photo/Gil Cohen Magen, Pool)
Israel's Cabinet easily defeated a proposal to postpone next month's pullout from Gaza at a meeting Sunday that reflected fears of violent opposition to the withdrawal _ each ministers was fitted for a bulletproof vest.
The 18-3 Cabinet vote found Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the author of the pullout, opposing Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a powerful rival who was once premier and wants the job again.
As the mid-August start date for the withdrawal nears, opponents are stepping up their campaign. Though Sharon says the pullout will strengthen Israel's hold on its main West Bank settlement blocs, settlers and their backers believe he will be forced into further pullbacks if he goes ahead with this one. Also, the Orthodox Jews dominating the opposition believe the government cannot relinquish any part of what they consider God-given biblical Israel.
The withdrawal would mark the first time Israel removes veteran settlements from the West Bank or Gaza. All 21 Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank are to be emptied of their approximately 9,000 residents.
Opposition tactics range from harmless orange ribbons on car antennas to blocking highways in sitdown strikes and attacking Palestinians in Gaza.
The 21 ministers gathered on an upper floor of the prime minister's office just before the Cabinet met and were measured for the vests by Israel's Shin Bet security service.
The Shin Bet will assess daily the level of threat from Jewish extremists opposed to the withdrawal, and will instruct ministers on when to wear the vests, defense officials said on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.
Recent polls show an increase in support for the withdrawal after a steady erosion. A poll published Friday showed support climbed to 62 percent from 53 percent in early June. Opposition was down to 31 percent from 38 percent.
At least eight settler families have moved out of their homes in the 25 settlements in recent days, including two in Gaza and six in the West Bank. If growing numbers of families leave voluntarily before the government's deadline, withdrawal opponents could be weakened considerably.
Leading the opposition are members of Sharon's own Likud Party. Sharon himself was the main force behind settlement construction until his sudden change of heart 18 months ago, when he presented the pullout plan. Netanyahu has toyed since then with formally challenging Sharon over the withdrawal.
Also Sunday, an Israeli border policeman died of his injuries after he fell chasing Palestinian rock-throwers protesting construction of Israel's separation barrier outside Jerusalem, police said.
Meanwhile, an Israeli settlement watchdog group asked the Supreme Court to order the demolition of a small, unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost, hoping to establish a precedent that will allow it to target dozens of similar communities slated for removal under a U.S.-backed peace plan.
The Peace Now group filed the petition against the Amona outpost north of Jerusalem, home to 25 families and 53 mobile homes. It said the homes are on private Palestinian land.
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