Minister calls for delay in Gaza pullout
The recommendation, expected to win government approval, came as Israel and the Palestinians held their first talks on coordinating the pullout.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted that despite the delay and strident settler opposition, the evacuation would be carried out.
Mr Mofaz met with Israeli security officials, including army and police commanders, to discuss a delay of the pullout by three weeks, until August 15. He agreed to the delay, referring it to a ministerial committee headed by Mr Sharon. The issue is ostensibly religious. The original starting date of the forcible evacuation of settlers who refuse to leave voluntarily by July 25, falls during a three-week mourning period leading up to Tisha B'Av, on August 14, when Jews mark the destruction of the biblical temples.
Though there is no Jewish legal reason for delaying the pullout, Mofaz decided to take into account the settlers' feelings. Most of them are Orthodox Jews.
Officials denied reports that another reason for the delay was to give an ill-prepared government time.
Lack of settler co-operation has made it difficult for the government to decide where they will move, officials say. Mr Sharon has indicated he would support the delay but wanted to get approval from his security chiefs first.
"The disengagement will be carried out," Mr Sharon said. "Whoever thinks this will open the way to delays or not implementing (the evacuation) or other pressures is simply wrong."
But violent incidents yesterday showed how tenuous the planning is.
An Israeli jeep patrolling the Gaza-Israel border was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from Gaza, seriously wounding a soldier, the military said.
In central Gaza, a riot erupted after Israeli soldiers closed a road, witnesses said. One Palestinian was wounded by Israeli gunfire before soldiers lifted the roadblock, they said.
An upsurge in violence in Gaza could cause Israel to shelve its pullout plan. Sharon has said repeatedly the evacuation must not be carried out under fire.
A senior official said the military is prepared to handle all the possible scenarios for the pullout, including Palestinian violence.
"We are planning our operations as if we are going to fight terror and take over all the areas adjacent to the settlements that are going to be evacuated," he said.
A flurry of meetings marked the beginning of coordination of the withdrawal. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia saw Israeli vice-premier Shimon Peres and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat met with Dov Weisglass, a top Sharon aide.
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