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Mohammed Barakeh (Knesset)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners February 8, 2005 |
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won a Pyrrhic victory as his Evacuation/Compensation bill passed a vote of the Knesset Finance committee only by a single vote cast by Communist Party MK Mohammed Barakeh, who openly identifies himself as a Palestinian hostile to Israel and Zionism. His surprise change of vote -- as an opposition member he typically votes against government legislation -- gave the bill a 10-9 majority, enabling it to advance the compensation clauses of the resolution for its final plenum votes next week.
But the fact that the bill's passage in committee relied on a self-identified Palestinian and one of the Knesset's most outspokenly hostile opponents of Israel has already generated intense embarassment among Sharon's ministers, who went so far as to call the vote "legal but illegitimate." It is sure to fuel claims that the law to expel Jewish families from their homes and lands does not have the support of a Jewish majority.
Right-wing MKs in the committee erupted in raucous debate after Barakeh cast his vote.
Barakeh explained that the settlers have no right to live where they live, and that he had no intention of going along with the right-wing strategy of delaying the bill: "There's no place for the settlers, not now and not in the future. I'm not in favor of giving them money, I'm in favor of clearing them out... If it's a question of evacuation or money for the settlers, then let them take the money and get out of there."
Former Arafat advisor MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash-Arab Movement for Change) praised Barakei for what he said was "courageous and responsible, and it thwarts the plan of the settlers and the right-wing and paves the way for the evacuation of the settlements in Gaza."
MK Ayoub Kara, one of the leaders of the Likud anti-disengagement front, said the bill had been approved by a "Palestinian vote."
The Knesset Law Committee is to conclude its discussions and voting on the expulsion clauses of the bill by Monday, putting the disengagement bill on schedule for approval by the end of next week.
Barakeh, whose vote came as a surprise to most committee members -- at most he was expected to abstain if not oppose the bill -- said he had decided to support the bill so as "not to give settlers money but to get them cleared out." Responding to the right-wing MKs, he said: "The most illegitimate thing is occupation."
Five Likud MKs in the committee voted against the bill, including Daniel Benlulu, despite efforts to get him to support the government. Two other Likud MKs, Ruhama Avraham and Eli Aflalo, voted in favor. One MK shouted at Aflalo: "You are a partner to the transfer of Jews."
MK Michael Gorolovsky (Likud) accused Barakeh, a member of the opposition, of working hand-in-hand with the government to expel Jews from their homes. Barakeh yelled back, "You are corrupt, a racist and a zero! Did you hear me? You can get out of here!" Gorolovsky shouted back, "Go back to Syria!" and Barakeh answered, "You go back to Russia." MK Yehiel Hazan (Likud) then leaped up, saying it was a "disgrace that the government had approved the expulsion of Jews with the support of Arabs."
Labor MK Yuli Tamir came to Barakei's defense, calling Likud MKs "racists who have proved they are motivated by their hatred toward Arabs."
Left-wing MK Chaim Oron (Meretz) chimed in, "The right-wing proved today that all their talk of a democratic referendum is unfounded," because they considered Barakeh's vote as illegitimate while votes of Jewish MKs were not.
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said, "While the Prime Minister embraces Abu Mazen and Dahlan in Sharm-el-Sheikh, he uses Barakeh to pass a law for the uprooting of the Jews of Gush Katif [and northern Samaria]. They are two of a kind. Sharon is the ruler of Israel by the grace of the Arabs."
MK Benny Elon (National Union) said the decision was "kosher but it stinks" and "legal but illegitimate," adding that "Today's vote shows the illegitimacy of the law to uproot Jews. Sharon uproots Jews by a margin of one vote [of a MK] who supports Hamas and the enemy."
Dovish lawmakers dismissed that argument as racist, but Danny Naveh, a Minister in Sharon's government also said that the vote was "legal" but expressed doubts about whether it was "legitimate."
Education Minister Limor Livnat of Likud, who expressed mixed feelings about the withdrawal, questioned whether the result was legitimate. "It's kosher and legal, but it is extremely uncomfortable for me," she told Army Radio.
Livnat had previously lodged a formal complaint against Barakeh for a debate in the Knesset plenum on July 28, 2004, in which, she contended, Barakeh had been "rudely outspoken and decidedly un-parliamentary in voicing contemptuous and hateful words against the state, that cannot be condoned."
She added that Barakeh's conduct was undignified and set a bad example for the public. On July 28, Livnat asked, "Would a normal country allow MK Barakeh to speak at the podium?" Barakeh responded: "Who are you to allow me to stand here? I am here by right, not by favor. You are shameless and impudent. You are not the minister of culture, you are the minister of un-culture."
In December, Barakeh was formally censured by the House Ethics Committee.
Compensation amounts increased
The extra NIS 1.5 billion approved for compensation would bring the total price tag for the disengagement plan to more than NIS 5 billion ($1.2 billion), including military costs.
Committee chairman Ya'acov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) came back to work on Tuesday after sitting shiva in mourning for the death of his mother. He decided to support the compensation, but his vote was insufficient to give the plan a majority without support from Barakei. "If settlers are anyhow being evacuated, it is right to give them expanded compensation," Litzman said.
Amendments to the government bill include extending a NIS 135,000 (about $30,000) bonus for settlers who relocate to the Galilee, the Negev or Ashkelon.
The increases approved by the committee would add some a NIS 160,000 to NIS 400,000 ($35,000 to $90,000) to average compensation packages. Settlers in the top bracket, who have been residents for 25 years would be entitled to nearly NIS 3 million ($700,000). Compensation for settlers who are renting homes in the territories was more than doubled from some NIS 60,300 to NIS 127,000 ($28,000), including moving, adjustment costs and a compensation payment for each year of residency.
The committee eliminated a provision that would cancel the rental grant for settlers who don't leave by the evacuation deadline.
Transport Minister Meir Sheetrit, who is directly responsible for implementing the disengagement plan bill, said he supported the improvements made to the bill despite their high cost, as a means of easing the transport of settlers. It is unlikely that cattle cars will be used for deportees due to the unpleasant historical associations of freight trains.
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