Settlers Eye Budget to Block Gaza Pullout
AP
Date: 02-22-05
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Jewish settlers said Tuesday they are setting their sights on Israel's long-overdue 2005 budget as a means to foil Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites), now that the Cabinet has set the clock ticking on the historic move.
If opponents to the withdrawal or the government's economic policy vote down the spending plan in parliament, they can bring down the government ? and hold up the pullout indefinitely.
On Sunday, Sharon's Cabinet voted to dismantle all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank by September, the first time an Israeli government has ordered the evacuation of Jewish settlements from lands the Palestinians claim for a future state.
The vote breezed through Cabinet despite attempts by the powerful settler lobby and some rebels in Sharon's own Likud Party to force the prime minister to back down from the pullout, or to delay it through a national referendum on the withdrawal. Now, the evacuation of the 9,000 Jewish settlers looks like a done deal_ unless opponents block it through the budget.
Parliament was to have approved a spending plan by Dec. 31. If it doesn't approve a budget by March 31, parliament would be automatically disbanded and new elections would be called, putting the withdrawal into limbo for months, if not longer.
Settlers said Tuesday they plan to set up an army-like operation, complete with general staff, to try to block the evacuation, partly through civil disobedience and partly by working with lawmakers to fight the budget.
"We are conducting a series of meetings with politicians and using our connections," said Emily Amrusy, spokeswoman of the Yesha Council of Jewish settlements.
So far, no final vote on the spending plan has been scheduled because Sharon hasn't been able to secure majority support in parliament.
Likud lawmaker Uzi Landau, a vigorous opponent of the withdrawal, said 51 or 52 members of the 120-member parliament have lined up behind the budget so far. To pass, the spending plan needs a simple majority.
The budget's fate depends largely on two opposition parties that have said they would vote against it. The ultra-Orthodox Shas party wants the government to dole out more money for social spending. The anti-clerical Shinui party, which backs the pullout and broadly supports the government's economic policy, says it won't come to Sharon's rescue unless he forms a new government that doesn't yield to the budgetary demands of religious parties.
Their position, however, could simply be a tactical maneuver designed to wrest concessions.
But if the budget does cause a parliamentary crisis, Sharon might find himself with some unusual political allies ? as he did when the pullout came up for a final vote in parliament earlier this month, and members of the left-wing Yahad opposition party voted in favor while members of his own Likud party voted against.
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