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Ariel Sharon. Worried. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners March 23, 2005 |
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In a raucous session, the Knesset Legislative Committee voted Wednesday 9-8 to bring a referendum bill to the full legislature. The bill, if passed, would condition any pullout from Gaza and Samaria on approval in a national plebiscite.
Before the vote was held, committee chairman Michael Eitan, who initiated the bill and has fought tooth-and-nail for its approval, read a letter sent to him over a year ago by Ariel Sharon, in which the prime minister supported his original proposal to hold a referendum on disengagement. "I call on the prime minister to stand behind his words," said Eitan. "Give greater moral validity to a move that I believe is supported by a majority of the nation."
The draft legislation says that if the government decides to relinquish territory where Israeli law applies or which Israel controls, it must receive Knesset approval. If the Knesset approves the government's decision, it may decide, by passage of a law, that some or all of the decision should be put to a vote in a national plebiscite.
The referendum, to be be held within 60 days of passage of the law, would be decided by a simple majority of those who cast their votes. Anyone whose name appears in the registry of voters for Knesset elections -- in other words, all Israeli citizens, would be eligible to vote in the referendum.
Referendum supporters include many opposed to the retreat, but also some that support a withdrawal but prefer to do so in the framework of a democratic process that enables the entire nation to weigh in on the dramatic and traumatic decision. Sharon argues that the referendum is just a trick and delaying tactic to foil the retreat and expulsion of Jewish Israelis from their homes and lands.
Eitan ejected MK Yuli Tamir (Labor) at the start of the session after she alleged that the Likud MKs were violating the coalition agreement with Labor by voting for the bill. Eitan told Tamir the coalition agreement did not apply to voting in committee but only to voting in the plenum, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Opponents of a Gaza withdrawal suffered a setback early Wednesday when the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, resisted pressure from Gaza settlers and Likud rebels to support a referendum.
Yosef is reluctant to introduce plebiscites into Israeli politics for fear that would expose Israel's ultra-Orthodox minority to referendum rulings on other issues. One such major issue would be drafting religious seminary students, who are now able to claim exemptions from three years of compulsory military service.
Shas legislator Nissim Zeev told Israel Army Radio said Yosef "doesn't want to create a precedent for a plebiscite on any issue."
Shas' 11-member faction controls enough votes to prevent a referendum from winning a majority in parliament.
However, retreat opponents found a redeemer, at least temporarily, in the ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism (UTJ). The faction, which joined Sharon?s coalition in January, cast the decisive votes on the proposed bill after the party?s spiritual leader, Rabbi Shalom Yosef Eliashiv, approved the measure.
UTJ Knesset Member Rabbi Avraham Ravitz said the referendum question was too important not to be brought to a vote in the Knesset plenum, but he did not promise that he or his faction would support the bill there.
Anti-expulsion legislators have been trying to derail the withdrawal by blocking approval of Israel's long-overdue 2005 budget. If parliament doesn't approve a budget by March 31, new elections would be called automatically, putting the withdrawal into limbo for months, if not longer.
Sharon has long ruled out a referendum on his retreat plan. But earlier in the week he was forced to make a desperate deal within his Likud party to avoid new elections, enabling passage of the proposal for a referendum in exchange for support for the budget bill in the finance committee, which voted 10-9 Tuesday, to bring the state budget to a parliamentary vote. Had the proposal failed, Sharon would have had no chance to present the bill to the Knesset plenum, and he would have been forced to call new elections.
New elections may still be compelled by law should the budget fail in a final Knesset vote next week. On paper, Sharon still doesn't have majority backing in parliament for the spending plan, but some legislators who oppose the budget are expected to either vote for it or abstain in the interest of keeping the Gaza pullout plan on track.
Most media analysts expect the referendum bill to fail, as Sharon is expected to be able to assemble a majority comprised of members of his cabinet and other parties outside his coalition, such as the centrist Shinui party, to ensure the pullout occurs. Still, most analysts would have doubted, as recently as several weeks ago, that a referendum bill would even be given the opportunity for a Knesset plenum vote.
Knesset member Avraham Poraz of Shinui slammed the UTJ support for a referendum, saying they showed no loyalty to the government they joined and only aimed to bilk money from a vulnerable Sharon.
"UTJ always votes against the prime minister," he said. "They voted against the evacuation-compensation bill and against disengagement. The prime minister brought them into the coalition, but apart from squeezing as much money as they could, they are no help at all."
National Religious Party Knesset Member Yitzhak Levy praised the vote and said it could save lives. "We are talking about a traumatic issue for a lot of people," said Levy. "Some people have threatened to commit suicide if the disengagement program actually comes to fruition. A referendum will at least help ease the blow."
Israeli opinion polls consistently show that most Israelis favor the "disengagement" plan. But settlers their supporters are highly motivated, and the fear among retreat leaders is that their backers will show the same indifference demonstrated in the sparsely attended pro-retreat rally last Saturday night.
Reconciliation meeting between Sharon and party opponents
Meeting for the first time in more than a year with party "rebels" Wednesday evening, Sharon admitted that without their support, he does not hold a majority to pass the crucial 2005 state budget in the Knesset plenum. However, according to Army Radio, he refused to support the rebels' proposal to vote for the budget if he and all forty other Likud members back a referendum.
The 13 so-called Likud rebel MKs said they would vote in favor of the 2005 state budget only in exchange for all Likud MKs voting for a national referendum.
Forty Likud votes in favor of a referendum would join 13 from the National Union, the National Religious Party and MKs Effi Eitam and Yitzhak Levy. However, a referendum could only pass if Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef instructs his 11 MKs to vote in favor.
That now looks unlikely.
The deal would solve Sharon's problems with the budget, enabling it to pass easily in the Knesset by a vote of 65-55, without requiring opposition support.
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced that he believes the budget will be approved, as well as a plebiscite: "I will insist that the Knesset pass the budget and I will demand the Knesset pass a referendum law," he said Wednesday morning on Army Radio.
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