Israel budget vote brings Gaza pullout closer
Israel’s parliament removed the last legislative obstacle before implementation of this summer’s pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank, easily passing the state budget and saving Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government from collapse.
The vote late yesterday was 58-36 with one abstention, a misleadingly wide margin for a government battered by opposition to the pullout plan. If the budget had not passed by tomorrow, Sharon would have had to resign, delaying or scuttling the withdrawal.
