WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER MEETS LIKUD PARTY MEMBERS ON REVISED GAZA WITHDRAWAL PLANS

Record ID: 400831

  • Title: WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER MEETS LIKUD PARTY MEMBERS ON REVISED GAZA WITHDRAWAL PLANS
  • Date: 31st May 2004
  • Summary: (U4) JERUSALEM (MAY 31, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON ENTERING LIKUD PARTY MEETING 0.11 2. SLV BENJAMIN NETANANYU WALKING 0.18 3. VARIOUS OF LIKUD MINISTERS JOKING WITH SHARON 0.31 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) SHARON SAYING "I came here today especially to present to the faction members the new plan I
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ABU DIS, RAMALLAH, WEST BANK, JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA9AJ7BKCYMZHS3PTUNMWUMO42
  • Story Text: Political turmoil revolving around Sharon's revised
    disangagement plan continues.




    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met the Likud
    party members on Monday (May 31) to discuss the revised
    disengagement plan and the standoff with his right-wing
    party rival holding up a fateful vote on his Gaza withdrawal plan.

    "I came here today especially to present to the faction members
    the new plan I have presented to the cabinet
    yesterday - the staged disengagement plan. I intend to
    explain to the members of the faction the changes I made as
    a result of the Likud referendum and consultations I had
    with you," Sharon said.

    On Sunday (May 30) at a meeting of his coalition
    cabinet Sharon threatened (May 30) to sack right-wing
    ministers balking at his U.S.-backed blueprint of
    "disengagement" from conflict with Palestinians, before
    adjourning the session without a vote.

    Justice Minister Yosef Lapid of the centrist Shinui
    party said he was trying to broker a compromise between
    Sharon and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading
    internal Likud party opposition to "disengagement".

    "I am supporting Prime Minister Sharon's plan for
    withdrawal from lall the settlements in Gaza but I ma
    suggesting that in the meantime we should decide only on
    three settlements becasue I do not think that we have the
    majority in government or parliament for a total
    withddrawal, " Lapid said.

    But a confidant of Sharon said he had turned down "in
    principle" a Lapid proposal that the cabinet vote on
    evacuating just three Jewish settlements in occupied Gaza
    rather than all 21 plus four of 120 in the West Bank, and
    "note" the original plan.

    But contacts on a possible compromise would go on, he
    said.

    Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said the revised
    plan met the necessary safety requirements.

    "I believe the disengagement plan is good for the
    security of the state of Israel and it feeds the security
    as a national goal for the state of Israel in the future, "
    Mofaz said.

    Officials said Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weisglass,
    flew to Washington to assure the White House that the prime
    minister was determined to push his plan, which was
    rejected by Likud members in a party referendum but enjoys
    majority support in Israeli opinion polls.

    Sharon's rocky coalition faced another potential
    challenge as Israel's Knesset, or parliament, was due to
    vote on Monday on no-confidence motions filed by several
    dovish parties who doubt his resolve to push through
    "disengagement".

    Sharon was likely to survive this vote but his hold on
    his coalition could slip further if foes of his plan sided
    with left wingers or abstained. He put off a Knesset speech
    on the proposal, in a sign of political tensions within his
    camp.

    Sharon postponed a cabinet vote after realising he
    remained one or two ministers short of a majority in the
    unruly government of Likud moderates and hardliners, Shinui
    and ultra-nationalist religious parties.

    Critics of "disengagement" say that unconditionally
    vacating settlements on lands captured in the 1967
    Arab-Israeli war would "reward terrorism", an allusion to
    Palestinian suicide bombers.

    Proponents say tiny, desert Gaza offers no more
    strategic or economic value to Israel and is turning into a
    deadly quagmire with 7,500 settlers prone to constant
    attack by militants among 1.3 million surrounding
    Palestinians.

    Amid the political turmoil revolving around Sharon's
    plan, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said on Monday
    (May 31) the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip should be
    coordinated with the Palestinian Authority.

    "Neither Sharon nor anybody else can do anything about
    the Palestinian issue without a decision from the
    legitimate Palestinian leadership," Qurie said following a
    meeting with the Executive Director of UNICEF at his office
    in the West Bank town of Abu Dis.

    "We don't need to beg for cooperation from anyone. We
    are the component," Qurie said.

    Qurie welcomed the offer made by Egypt to send between
    150 and 200 security experts to Gaza for six months to
    train a security force for the Palestinian Authority.


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