Tough decisions ahead, says Sharon
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today warned that “tough decisions” lie ahead after his Likud Party rejected his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to Likud MPs, Sharon said he accepted the results of the party referendum, but hinted that he would press forward with the proposal. Likud voters rejected his plan by a 60-40 margin in yesterday’s party only vote.
Sharon spoke at the opening of the parliament’s summer session.
“It seems to me that it is going to be a very interesting sitting, a sitting during which we shall have make some tough decisions in the party caucus and in the parliament which will impact on the futures of us all,” he said.
He repeated a pledge to consult with Likud ministers and MPs, as well as other political parties, to discuss how to move forward.
“I want to emphasise that the people of Israel chose us to find the way to quiet, security and peace and to improve the economy of Israel,” Sharon said. “I intend to do that. There is no other reason for us to be here in the Knesset.”
Sharon did not say explicitly whether he would continue with his “unilateral disengagement” plan, which calls for a withdrawal from all 21 Gaza settlements and uprooting four settlements in the West Bank.
But allies suggested he would look for ways to get around the Likud’s veto. The referendum was not legally binding.
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid of the centrist Shinui party said Sharon assured him he had not changed his position.
“Sharon promised to fulfil our request to hold a discussion on the issue in the cabinet,” Lapid said. “It isn’t possible to leave the political situation frozen.”
A referendum of all voters could get Sharon off the hook.
Polls indicate that most Israelis back the withdrawal plan and Sharon is likely to get support from the opposition Labour Party.
Such a move would certainly lead to major dissent and withdrawals from the Sharon cabinet forcing either a general election or, possibly, a government of national unity with the opposition and surviving members of the coalition.
The vote on Sunday was marred by violence. Palestinian gunmen killed a pregnant Gaza settler and her four daughters, aged two to 11, in an ambush on her car, firing from close range.
Israel killed four Palestinian militants in the West Bank and destroyed a Hamas-affiliated radio station in Gaza in missile strikes.
Sharon’s disengagement plan envisions an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, home to 7,500 settlers, and the evacuation of four small West Bank settlements by the end of 2005, along with the completion of a West Bank separation barrier.
The US expressed veiled disappointment. “The president welcomed Prime Minister Sharon’s plan to withdraw settlements from Gaza and a part of the West Bank as a courageous and important step toward peace,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
“We will be in consultation with the Prime Minister and the government of Israel about how to move forward.”
Palestinian leaders, who have dismissed Sharon’s unilateral plan as an attempt to tighten Israel’s hold over large parts of the West Bank, played down yesterday’s vote as an internal Israeli matter.
