Last Sunday the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
overwhelmingly approved a unilateral withdrawal of all the
Israeli settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West
Bank by a vote of 17-5. The actual withdrawal can start no
sooner than five months from the vote, and is currently
scheduled to start on 13 Tammuz (July 20) — though that
date may not be exact — and to last for nine weeks
which means that it would end in the middle of Elul.
According to the original government decision last summer,
the pullout is to take place in four separate stages with
pauses between each stage and the following one, and a
separate evaluation and vote before each stage. The original
decision this week was to complete all four stages in nine
weeks, but later remarks from the prime minister indicated
that the entire process may be completed in as few as five
weeks, and that some stages may be started before the
previous stage has been completed. That would certainly
violate the spirit of the original decision even if the
original language may allow for the possibility.
The government decision enabled Sharon to sign evacuation
orders for all the Jewish residents of the Gaza Strip and the
residents of four settlements in the northern West Bank.
A law passed by the Knesset last week enabled the government
vote on Sunday. The five-month delay between the decision and
the actual evacuation is to give settlers time to organize
their move and to receive compensation, since they may not
have felt that the move is imminent until it was actually
approved by the government. The same law provides for strict
punishment of those refusing to move at the end of the five
months.
The seven-hour Cabinet session opened with an emotional
statement by Sharon, who called the pullout "a very, very
difficult move — difficult for the residents of the
settlements, difficult for the citizens of Israel, difficult
for me and I am sure difficult for the ministers of this
government. But it is vital for the future of the State of
Israel."
The prime minister went into the meeting knowing he had a
firm majority based on public statements made by the
ministers and told the dissenters he would not make a last-
ditch effort to persuade them to vote in favor of the
withdrawals.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the press afterwards
that the Palestinian Authority would ensure that the Gaza
withdrawal takes place without any violence from the
Palestinians, which is of major concern to the Israeli
defense establishment. The Palestinians, Abbas said, would
"throw flowers on the Israelis, not stones." Defense analysts
had said that the terror groups would try to attack during
the withdrawal to make it appear that they caused the
Israelis to run away. Abbas apparently is not seeking to do
this.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Education Minister Limor
Livnat, who expressed opposition at various times, both voted
in favor of the disengagement on Sunday. Both could easily
have lost their jobs if they voted against Sharon.
Voting no were the ministers: Binyamin Netanyahu, Danny
Naveh, Yisrael Katz, Tzachi Hanegbi, and Natan Sharansky.
Netanyahu said that he earlier voted in favor, but "in the
absence of a referendum" he voted against. He is too
important as the Finance Minister for Sharon to fire at this
time. His policies appear to be working, and the economic
establishment has confidence in his stewardship.
Minister Natan Sharansky also voted against the decision, and
he was the only one who argued substantively against the move
itself, saying that the Palestinians had to democratize more.
He also complained about what he termed "the hatred and
delegitimization" of the opponents of disengagement. He said
that there are a number of steps that should be demanded of
the Palestinians in addition to fighting terror, such as
settling all Palestinians in normal homes and demolishing the
refugee camps, and ending the incitement in the Palestinian
media.
When Sharansky said that "it is clear to all that the
disengagement is the first step on the road map," Sharon
interjected that "there will be no automatic start on our
part of the road map. We will only go on to the road map when
the PA does all it has committed to do, like stopping the
incitement, dismantling the terror organizations, conducting
reforms and ceasing the violence."
The cabinet also voted 20-1 with one abstention to approve
the route of the security barrier around Jerusalem where it
does not already exist.
Shin Bet security service chief Avi Dichter warned that the
new route could turn travelers on Road No. 443 into "sitting
ducks." The route has been quiet for some time and is the
main road from Yerushalayim to Modiin and Modiin Illit
(Kiryat Sefer). The Shin Bet chief urged a return to the
original route — which was changed in response to a
High Court ruling — in which the fence passes north of
Road 443.
The issue was not closed and is to be taken up by the
political-security cabinet.
Minister Yisrael Katz was the fence's lone opponent.
On Monday Israel released 500 prisoners in a show of support
for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian
people and its leadership consider prisoner release a central
indication of "progress" in the peace process. This could be
a point of serious contention in the future.
In the past, the release of prisoners served to replenish the
ranks of terrorists. A former security prisoner released in
January 2004 in a deal with Hizbullah for the bodies of three
soldiers and businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum was one of two
gunmen shot and killed by soldiers a week ago while
attempting an attack at Har Bracha, according to a report in
the Jerusalem Post.
Atsem Mansour, 29, was imprisoned in Israel between October
2001 and January 2004 for terrorism. He was one of 462
security prisoners released in exchange for Tannenbaum and
the bodies of three Israeli soldiers killed on the Lebanese
border.
500 prisoners were released at this time. Israel initially
agreed to release 900 security detainees, but only 500 were
released so far this week. Security officials said the
remaining 400 have yet to be approved, and a time for their
release has not been decided.
Only 200 of the 500 Palestinian prisoners released this week
served two-thirds of their sentences which would normally
make them eligible for parole. The High Court rejected a
petition against the release by an organization of terror
victims. The state's attorney told the Court that of the
other 300 released, 120 were security detainees to whom the
criterion of time served did not apply since they were not
serving a sentence, while another 180 prisoners had yet to
serve two-thirds of the sentences they had been given in
court.
The security establishment's most current statistics about
prisoner release relate to the May 1985 "Jibril deal" in
which more than 1,000 prisoners were released: Of the 238 of
them released to the West Bank and Gaza, 48 percent, or 114,
resumed terrorist activities eventually, as far as is
known.
