The Israeli cabinet passed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's revised Gaza Strip disengagement plan by a 14-7 majority on Sunday evening.
The vote was halted earlier Sunday when Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, and Education Minister Limor Livnat demanded that the letters of understanding exchanged between Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush be excluded from the government decision. The demand was raised because the letters that Sharon and Bush exchanged state that settlements would ultimately be evacuated.
Earlier Sunday, the Prime Minister's Office said that Likud ministers had reached a compromise deal on the revised disengagement plan.
National Religious Party Chairman Effi Eitam said that the plan's approval would lead to the "expulsion" of thousands of Jews from the Gaza Strip and the establishment of a "Hamas state" on platter of Jewish blood, Haaretz reported.
The cabinet began discussing Sharon's disengagement plan Sunday afternoon, despite a High Court proposal to defer the talks to Tuesday.
The court proposal stemmed from several petitions which questioned the legality of Sharon's firing of far right-wing ministers from the National Union party, Avigdor Lieberman and Binyamin Elon on Friday.
Sharon said after the vote that the approval indicates that Israel is "taking its future in its own hands."
"Disengagement is getting underway," he said.
"The government decided today that by the end of 2005 Israel will leave Gaza Strip and four settlements (in the West Bank). The state of Israel made a decisive step for its future," Sharon noted.
"Most of the people of Israel understand the tremendous significance of the plan ... It is a decision that is good for Israel's political standing, economy and the demography of the Jewish people in the land of Israel.
"Israel doesn't intend to wait any longer for the Palestinians. They understand that if they don't work to liquidate terror they will continue to lose important assets..." Sharon added. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
