Village settlers agree to move from Gaza

Residents of a small Jewish settlement said today they have reached a deal to move together to a village inside Israel – the first community to agree to be evacuated under the government’s Gaza withdrawal plan.

The agreement, confirmed by a top official, gave an important boost to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who faces staunch opposition from settler leaders to his plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and a part of the West Bank next year.

Sharon’s Cabinet today approved a package of measures meant to facilitate fortcoming Palestinian presidential elections, granting Palestinians freedom of movement and allowing candidates to campaign in disputed east Jerusalem.

Yonatan Bassi, director of the government administration overseeing the Gaza pull-out, said the deal with the residents of Peat Sadeh was reached last week.

He said the settlement’s 20 families, joined by five families from other settlements, would move to Mavkiim, a farming village near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, beginning in March.

Although the deal affects a tiny percentage of the 8,200-member settler community of Gaza, it was the first sign of a crack in the settler leadership’s campaign against the withdrawal.

Residents of Peat Sadeh, an upmarket farming village overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, said they did not want to leave, but they would go if parliament gives final approval to the withdrawal.

Bassi said a vote is expected next month.