Gaza withdrawal plan faces crucial vote

Israel’s parliament is voting today on providing compensation to 8,800 settlers facing evacuation from Gaza and the West Bank next year, in a crucial test of the “unilateral disengagement” plan.

Prime minister Ariel Sharon’s pullout plan has badly split the Israeli electorate and cost him his parliamentary majority. Settlers are furious, rabbis have issued rulings claiming Sharon is violating Jewish law, and officials warn of violence, civil war and assassinations.