Sharon Wins Gaza Vote, Sacks Ministers

The move received mixed reactions, with Washington welcoming it, Syria dismissing it, Egypt ’s Mubarak calling Arafat to discuss it, Sharon sacking opponents and other key ministers threatening to quit unless a public vote was held to decide the plan’s final fate.

Israeli deputies voted 67 to 45 in favor of the so-called disengagement plan amid chaotic scenes in parliament, but the project continues to bitterly divide the government which remains in danger of collapsing, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

While the 22-vote majority was larger than many predicted, the embattled premier is still not out of the woods with four members of his cabinet — including his arch rival Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — threatening to resign unless he yields to their demands for a referendum on the project.

Sharon Defiant

The small right-wing National Religious Party also threatened to bolt the coalition if Sharon failed to put the issue to a plebiscite within a fortnight but the premier, having won the day in parliament, was in no mood for compromise.

“I will never give into pressures and threats and I won’t accept any ultimatums,” he told the Ha’aretz daily.

“My position on the referendum is unchanged, I am opposed because it will lead to terrible tensions and a rupture in the public.”

Sharon was due to attend a memorial later in the day for the late Labour prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated nine years ago by a right-wing extremist over his stewardship of the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians.

Not even the left-leaning Rabin, who once wished that Gaza “would just sink into the sea”, was able to withdraw Israeli troops or settlers from Palestinian occupied territory.

Tuesday night’s vote should now mean that all 8,000 Jewish settlers will be uprooted from the impoverished strip of land, home to 1.3 million Palestinians and under occupation since 1967, by next September.

Several hundred residents of four small Jewish enclaves in the northern West Bank also face evacuation as part of a plan which Sharon believes will enable Israel to cement its hold over larger West Bank settlement blocs.

Settlers Unmoved

On the other hand, Israeli settlers tried to play down the vote, taking heart from the divisions at the heart of the government.

“There is no doubt that Sharon cannot continue to govern with an artificial majority. We believe that the people will oppose this catastrophic plan in a referendum,” the main Yesha council of settlers said, according to AFP.

But commentators said that there was no denying its significance.

“Beyond the political gossip revolving around the question of who won and who lost in the vote last night, a single important fact, which some would call historic, sticks out: the die has been cast,” said an editorial in the top-selling Yedout Ahronot daily.

“Right now, the size of the disparity between yea and nay votes, be it large or small, is of no significance. The decision is, for the first time ever, to evacuate or to uproot settlements in Samaria (the northern West Bank ), the land of our forefathers.”

A poll published Wednesday showed 50 percent of the Israeli public favored a referendum, with 45 percent against. The survey for Maariv also showed a 59 to 28 percent majority in support of disengagement.

But although polls have consistently shown such a majority, Sharon fears his more highly motivated opponents will mobilize greater levels of support.

Netanyahu, who desperately tried to bounce Sharon into agreeing to a referendum before the vote, insisted in its aftermath that the government would topple if there was no referendum.

Sharon is without a majority in the 120-seat Knesset after traditional allies quit in protest at his project.

Three other ministers from the premier’s Likud party have also vowed to quit if Sharon does not agree to a referendum within a fortnight. But the size of his victory — bolstered by the support of the chief opposition Labour and smaller left-wing Yahad parties — is likely to stiffen his resolve

He demonstrated his ruthless streak immediately after the vote when he sacked two ministers who failed to toe the government line.

Different Reactions

US President George W. Bush’s team, which has enthusiastically endorsed disengagement, described the vote as an “an important step.”

“This disengagement plan has the potential of being historic, and we see it as an important step in fulfilling President Bush’s vision of two states living side by side in peace and security,” White House spokesman Trent Duffy said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, held telephone talks late Tuesday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat about Sharon ’s plan, the Egyptian news agency Mena said.

Their increasingly rare one-on-one conversation, during which they discussed progress in implementing a peace plan, came shortly after Israel ‘s parliament approved Sharon ‘s plan for the Gaza pullout.

The two men discussed the different kinds of help Egypt will give to the Palestinian Authority to implement the peace plan, the agency said.

In the West Bank, Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said Israel should now begin negotiations with his government about the pullout.

“If the Israeli government is serious about backing the peace process, they should now return to the negotiating table with the Palestinian Authority .. to discuss the idea of a withdrawal from Gaza ,” Erakat told AFP.

In Damascus , Syrian radio said Sharon ‘s plan to evacuate the Gaza Strip, approved by MPs, is intended to freeze the Middle East peace process indefinitely.

“The aim of this plan is to soak the peace process in formaldehyde indefinitely, to freeze or destroy it,” said a commentator on state-owned Radio Damascus.

“Profiting from the US mire in Iraq, Sharon also wants to torpedo any efforts leading towards the creation of a Palestinian state as George W. Bush outlined in June 2002 and stipulated by the roadmap.”