Heavy guard as Israeli parliament debates Gaza withdrawal

Israel’s Cabinet has given strong support to a key element of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and four West Bank settlements, setting up what is expected to be a fiery parliamentary debate and vote on the controversial programme, starting today.

In Gaza today, Israeli troops raided a Palestinian refugee camp in response to mortar fire, killing 11 Palestinians, including an 11-year-old boy, hospital officials said. Fifty-five Palestinians were wounded.

The Knesset debate, starting this afternoon, is the first time parliament will have a chance to discuss the ”unilateral disengagement” plan since Sharon unveiled it earlier this year. Sharon is expected to win a preliminary vote on the plan scheduled for Tuesday, but only with the support of dovish opposition parties.

Thousands of police officers were to be deployed, particularly around parliament, to keep roads open. Thousands of demonstrators, in favour and against the plan, were expected to march near the Knesset in Jerusalem. Police kept helicopters on standby to fly MPs to the building should protesters block the roads.

Sharon says his plan is necessary to boost Israel’s security after four years of fighting with the Palestinians. He says the pullout, combined with a West Bank barrier under construction, also would enable Israel to strengthen its hold on large settlement blocs in the West Bank, where most settlers live.

Jewish settlers accuse Sharon of caving in to Palestinian violence and fear the withdrawal will be the first step in a larger pullback.

The disengagement plan, which would mark the first time Israel pulled down Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza since capturing those territories in 1967, has led to bitter divisions in Sharon’s Likud Party, with many of its hard-line MPs opposed to it.

Nevertheless, his Cabinet passed a key part of the plan, a compensation programme for settlers who are to be evicted from their homes next year, by a 13-6 vote on Sunday.

The Cabinet victory, though expected, gave Sharon important momentum in the run-up to a far more important test Tuesday, when the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is to vote for the first time on the entire withdrawal plan. Sharon is expected to win that vote, but he needs a strong majority to marginalise his opponents.

“The train has left the station, the implementation is under way,” government spokesman Raanan Gissin said of Sharon’s plan. “After the Knesset vote on Tuesday we will be in an irreversible process.”