 |
 |
 |
|
|
Shas leader Eli Yishai (left) and Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef (AP)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Israel Insider staff and partners March 28, 2005 |
|
| |
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip was set to clear another hurdle in parliament Monday, after opponents appeared unable to recruit a majority for holding a national referendum on a pullout.
The situation appeared so desperate that opponents of the expulsion plan turned to Knesset Laws Committee Chairman Michael Eitan and asked that he withdraw the referendum proposal in view of its likely defeat.
The anti-expulsion legislators said they wanted to postpone the vote to a later time in the hopes of securing a majority.
But Eitan told ynet he would not agree. "It's over, we need to decide," he said. "You can't keep the entire nation in suspense. I do not intend to withdraw the bill."
Approval of a plebiscite is widely seen as a way to delay and ultimately scuttle withdrawal. It would likely bring down Sharon and force new elections. Sharon's main coalition partner, the moderate Labor Party, has warned it would quit the coalition if a referendum is approved. Labor is a staunch supporter of the Gaza withdrawal.
On Monday, a leading opponent of the Gaza plan met with Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, to try to persuade him to support the referendum. Shas controls 11 seats in the 120-member parliament, and the 11 Shas legislators would follow Yosef's instructions.
Yosef opposes a Gaza withdrawal. However, he also opposes holding a referendum, for fear it would set a precedent and could be used in the future by Israel's secular majority against the ultra-Orthodox minority.
However, Yosef aides have said the rabbi was ready to consider supporting the referendum bill if there was a chance it could pass -- and thus topple Sharon, who has angered Shas by his alliance with secular parties. Yosef met Monday with Uzi Landau, a leading withdrawal opponent, to hear whether he had mustered at least 50 votes, which along with the 11 from Shas could produce the required absolute majority.
However, Shas legislator Eli Yishai said Landau apparently did not have the necessary votes.
Yosef told Landau the referendum bill may have had a chance to pass had they worked harder.
Landau told the rabbi there was a "slight chance" the bill would pass, but Yosef promptly rejected this claim. "What's with you? I see there is no majority," he said.
Senior Shas figures told ynet that Monday's meeting was "another step on the way to confirming Rabbi Ovadiah's position against a national referendum."
"The rabbi paid close attention to the matter," Landau said after the meeting. "We explained to the rabbi that his stance is decisive and that he has the ability to influence Likud members."
Shas, however, appears interested in delaying the decision to the last minute, to emphasize that the referendum proposal hinges on Likud members' vote on the question.
"If the Likud was more united it would have been easier," Yosef said Monday. The rabbi kept reminding the Likud delegation that the inability to sway the entire Likud to support a referendum was what doomed the proposal to failure.
Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, a strong supporter of the Gaza plan, said he was confident the referendum bill would fail. "I assume there is a clear majority for those who oppose the referendum," Olmert told Israel Army Radio.
The proposed dismantling of all 21 Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank this summer has split Sharon's Likud Party, a bastion of settlement backers taken by surprise by Sharon's sudden turnabout at the beginning of last year. Sharon himself was the main sponsor of settlement construction before presenting his pullout plan, explaining it would help Israel hang on to parts of the West Bank.
Also Monday, the military lifted a blanket closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which had been imposed Wednesday for the Jewish holiday of Purim. Such closures are routine security measures. Even after the lifting of the ban, entry of Palestinians to Israel remains severely restricted.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, criticized Israel and indirectly the United States over U.S. support for Israel retaining main settlements in the West Bank in a final peace deal.
"Any talk of settlements that is not a discussion of stopping them is unacceptable," Abbas said. "Here I'm talking about the discussions of annexing settlement blocs." The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, with east Jerusalem as their future capital.
The issue resurfaced over the weekend with a leaked Foreign Ministry document that quoted U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer as saying the United States did not support Israel's keeping West Bank settlements. The document was leaked after Israel revived plans to expand the largest one, Maaleh Adumim, next to Jerusalem.
Kurtzer denied a newspaper report based on the document, repeating a statement from U.S. President George W. Bush that a peace settlement would have to take into account Israel's main settlement blocs.
Sharon told his Cabinet that while Washington backs Israel's holding on to settlement blocs, it still opposes construction in settlements.
The settlement issue has been a major sticking point in attempts to implement the stalled U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which also has the support of the European Union, United Nations and Russia.
The initial stage requires Israel to halt all settlement construction and remove dozens of unauthorized outposts from the West Bank, while the Palestinians dismantle violent groups. Neither side has carried out those steps. With a truce holding for six weeks, there are hopes peace efforts can resume.
Instead of peace moves, however, the truce itself is teetering, with charges by Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz that Palestinians smuggled Strela anti-aircraft missiles into Gaza through tunnels under the Egyptian border.
If true, the missiles could change the strategic picture, threatening Israeli military helicopters flying over Gaza. "Last week several Strelas were smuggled in by Palestinian military intelligence. If the Palestinians (police) don't get hold of the Strelas, we will," Mofaz told Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting.
Israel has refrained from raids into Gaza since Sharon and Abbas declared a truce on Feb. 8. Before that, Israeli forces went into Gaza several times a week, looking for militants and destroying tunnels.
Rejecting Mofaz's warnings, Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Shaath charged that Israel is trying to sabotage the truce. "I hope this is not an indication of future Israeli acts of aggression against us," Shaath said.
The AP contributed to this report.
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
