World - Reuters
Sharon Expected to Sack 2 Foes to Pass Gaza Plan
Date: Thu, Jun 03, 2004
By Matt Spetalnick
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) appeared set Thursday to sack two hard-line cabinet ministers after talks over a compromise on his U.S.-backed Gaza pullout plan bogged down, political sources said.
Sharon summoned ministers from the National Union party, a small coalition partner in the 23-member cabinet, for a meeting Friday morning, at which officials in his rightist Likud expect him to dismiss them, the sources said.
The dismissals could give Sharon a narrow majority needed in a cabinet vote Sunday to pass his plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) by evacuating its 7,500 Jewish settlers living in 21 enclaves.
Tourism Minister Benny Elon, a staunch opponent of the plan and one of those called in by Sharon, accused the premier of trying "to create an artificial majority" and told reporters he would comment further "only if the threat is carried out."
The political crisis threatens to bring down Sharon's government.
Talks over a compromise to rescue the coalition appeared to bog down late Thursday over hard-liners' demands for settlements in Gaza to continue to receive state funding for construction even after the disengagement plan is approved, the sources said.
Rebellious cabinet members were working toward a face-saving deal for ministers to approve Sharon's plan to "disengage" from conflict in Gaza "in principle," but agree to hold another vote in six months before any settlements could actually be evacuated.
The dispute pitted Sharon against his main rival, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (news - web sites), and other hard-liners over his plan to pull out of some of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Under Sharon's four-stage proposal all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 enclaves in the West Bank would be evacuated by the end of 2005.
The United States had pressed for Sharon's full plan to be implemented instead of a watered-down version backed by Netanyahu.
Repeating a pledge made Wednesday, Sharon said he wanted to "keep the peace" in the rightist Likud but would bring his plan to a vote no matter what happens, and he expects it to pass.
STRONG PUBLIC SUPPORT
"I intend to keep my commitment," Sharon told a Likud meeting Thursday evening, several hours before negotiations hit crisis.
Polls show a strong majority of Israelis willing to part with Gaza's hard-to-defend settlements, where 7,500 Jews live cloistered from 1.3 million Palestinians. But Likud party members voted down the idea as rewarding "Palestinian terror."
The former general, nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for his hard-nosed tactics, failed to muster enough votes last Sunday and the cabinet decision was postponed.
A compromise proposed by Likud deputies was aimed at allowing both Sharon and recalcitrant Likud ministers to claim victory, by stipulating that a second vote be held on evacuating settlements in another six months.
Left-wing critics assailed the idea.
"This is a rotten compromise," Yossi Sarid, head of the Meretz party, told Israel Radio. "This is a meatball without meat, chicken soup without the chicken, a concert without music."
Contacts with Likud ministers continued late into Thursday night despite Sharon's threat to fire the two rightist ministers, Israeli media reports said.
While Palestinians would welcome withdrawal from any of the land they seek for a state, they suspect Sharon's unilateral plan is just a ruse to strengthen Israel's hold on chunks of the West Bank where the bulk of Jewish settlements have been built.
Some Israeli officials said the current crisis could lead to fresh elections being held in a few months, though a Sharon aide dismissed this earlier Thursday as unlikely.
(Additional reporting by Gwen Ackerman and Allyn Fisher-Ilan)
SOURCE
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