Sharon Preparing New Gaza Withdrawal Plan

Sunday, May 09, 2004



JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (search) told a stormy Cabinet meeting Sunday that he is preparing a new plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip (search), participants said, a week after his Likud Party (search) rejected a proposal to pull out of the area.

The announcement was the clearest indication from Sharon on how he plans to proceed following the May 2 party referendum, in which Likud voters rejected his Gaza withdrawal plan by a 60-40 margin.

The prime minister canceled a trip to Washington next week to focus on the plan, which he plans to present to his Cabinet in about three weeks, officials said.

Sharon's original "disengagement" plan had called for a full withdrawal from Gaza, where 7,500 settlers live amid 1.3 million Palestinians, and an exit from four isolated West Bank settlements. Sharon said the unilateral measures were needed to boost Israel's security in the absence of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

It was unclear how Sharon's new plan would differ from the original proposal.

Hard-liners in the government oppose widespread territorial concessions to the Palestinians, while Justice Minister Yosef Lapid of the moderate Shinui Party has threatened to quit the government if diplomatic efforts don't continue.

"We support the disengagement plan and if we are saying it's all finished, we can't agree with this," Lapid told Israel's Army Radio ahead of the Cabinet meeting.

Lapid said a new plan should be broader than the original and suggested it include the renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians.

Lapid, who has led efforts to keep Sharon's disengagement plan on track since the referendum, addressed the ministers prompting two hard-line ministers, Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Elon, to walk out of the meeting, saying they did not want to be part of a "pathetic" discussion, participants said.

Lapid also got into a shouting match with Uzi Landau, a Likud hard-liner. Landau and other hard-liners said it was not democratic to ignore the referendum and said there is no chance a new plan could pass in the government.

During the discussions, Sharon announced that he had called off a trip to the United States next week. His office said the prime minister canceled because he will be busy consulting with Israeli officials on his new proposal.

Sharon told the Cabinet that he wants to talk to all his ministers before he brings his new plan to the government in about three weeks, participants said.

In Washington, Sharon had planned to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, in mid-May. A meeting with President Bush, who endorsed the Gaza withdrawal plan, had also been expected.

In new violence Sunday, Palestinian militants fired a homemade rocket in the northern Gaza Strip that landed near the American school, residents said. The school is sponsored by local and Palestinian-American businessman.

The blast shattered a windshield on a taxi, but caused no casualties. It was not clear whether the school had been targeted. Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets from the area into southern Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had discovered a weapons-smuggling tunnel in Rafah, along the Egyptian border, in an overnight raid. The army said it had arrested a number of Palestinians in the tunnel.

The army, which frequently conducts raids in the area, said it had discovered 11 weapons-smuggling tunnels in Rafah this year.

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