| The opposition couldn't stop Sharon The Israeli parliament made a decision that is destined to go down in history: MPs voted in favor of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. The Knesset's will can be put on a par with the agreements signed in 1993 in Oslo and the agreement concluded in 1998 in Wye Plantation. True, this time the Palestinian side is not participating in the historical event.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967. The Jewish settlement movement in the sector began in the mid-80s with the active support of Ariel Sharon, who held various ministerial positions. Now Sharon, already as prime minister, has made the exact opposite decision. And for the first time, the deputies voted for the Israelis to leave and destroy with their own hands the settlements they had created.
The United States welcomed the Knesset's decision. Russia also approves of the resolution of Israeli parliamentarians, since it can “play an important role in restoring the peace process,” the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized yesterday. Both Moscow and Washington, as mediators in the negotiations, hope for this.
Arab Knesset members abstained from voting. “By leaving Gaza, Sharon is trying to preserve the majority of Jewish settlements located in Judea and Samaria. This is a continuation of the occupation,” the press service of the Arab National Movement party told Vremya Novostey.
As Roman Bronfman, head of the Democratic Choice party, told VN, “Sharon has taken a step towards ending the Israeli occupation. The process has begun and cannot be stopped. Most of the settlements in Judea and Samaria in the West Bank will also be evacuated." Israeli Industry Minister Ehud Olmert in an interview with VN said that Ariel Sharon will be able to get the Knesset to approve the next stage of unilateral separation from the Palestinians - a bill on compensation for settlers.
The vote provoked an acute political crisis in Israel. Immediately after the voting results were tabulated, Sharon expelled from the government those who voted against his plan: Minister without Portfolio Uzi Landau and Deputy Minister of Industry Michael Razon. In a conversation with VN, ex-minister Landau said: “Sharon does not have a majority. He leads the left camp, and the right movement is left without a leader.”
The day before the vote, Employment Minister Zvulun Orlev said he was giving Sharon two weeks to decide on a referendum or his MAFDAL party would leave the ruling coalition. After the vote, Likud ministers Limor Livnat, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Katz and Dan Naveh joined the ultimatum and supported Sharon's plan. They threaten to resign if there is no referendum.
“I will not succumb to pressure and threats and will not accept any ultimatums,” Sharon said yesterday. “I am against the referendum because it will lead to tension and division in society.” While voting in support of the prime minister's plan, Finance Minister Netanyahu was mindful of Sharon's threat to deprive opponents of his plan of ministerial portfolios. After all, his resignation could open the way for Sharon to a government of national unity together with the Labor party.
“Mainly left-wing parties voted for Sharon’s plan. Therefore, there is no need to talk about strengthening settlements on the left bank of the Jordan by withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. Today Sharon will liquidate settlements in the Gaza Strip, and tomorrow he will give up Jerusalem,” Yuri Edelstein, a deputy from the Likud party, told VN yesterday. He believes that it is time to announce early elections. Both of Ariel Sharon's predecessors as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, did exactly this in a similar situation.
The left camp does not rule out the possibility of early elections. In a conversation with VN correspondents, Knesset member from the Labor party Avraham Baiga Shohat noted that now “the chances of creating a government of national unity are slim,” and “no one will be able to predict what will happen in the next two weeks.” Dmitry DUBOV, Maria GRISHINA, Jerusalem |
|
