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Israeli Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Bibi), right, is seen as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon looks on at the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office on Sunday. (AP)
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07/03
Haaretz |
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| By israelinsider staff and partners July 3, 2005 |
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Israel's Cabinet has rejected a proposal to delay the Gaza withdrawal by five months.
The proposal -- introduced by Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) -- calling to reconsider the ministerial legislative panel decision to reject a bill for the delay of the disengagement plan until November 2005 -- was rejected.
Ministers voted 18-3 to turn down the proposed delay. The pullback is expected to start, as planned, in mid-August.
Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted in favor of a delay, challenging Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as expected.
This, after Peres threatened before the government meeting on Sunday that should the government decide to postpone the disengagement, Labor would leave the coalition.
The continued wrangling over the Gaza pullout highlights the bitter political rivalry between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former Prime Minister, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu also plans to be absent from a parliamentary vote Wednesday on the same issue, in order to avoid voting against it, which would result in his dismissal from government.
The cabinet has already decided to oppose Wednesday's bill, which was sponsored by MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party), which would postpone the pullout for three months rather than Sunday's proposed six.
In a statement issued by Netanyahu's office, the minister said that in skipping Wednesday's vote, he would merely be following the example set by Sharon in 1997, when Sharon was a minister in Netanyahu's government. At that time, Sharon voted against the Hebron Agreement in the cabinet and then skipped the Knesset vote on the pact to avoid having to vote in favor.
Members of Sharon's staff noted that under Article 11 of the 1949 Transition Law, a minister who either votes against the government in a Knesset roll call or "misses the vote" will be considered to have resigned, unless the prime minister decides otherwise. "The law on this matter is clear," said one official.
The AP contributed to this report.
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