|
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that he will bring his disengagement plan to the Knesset (parliament) on Oct. 25, the Ha'aretz Daily reported.
Israel was forced to take its own steps since the Palestinians showed themselves to be no partners for peace, Sharon addressed the opening of the Knesset's winter session, obviously referring to his disengagement plan.
The prime minister said he will bring compensation payments distribution plan to a vote in the first week of November if the disengagement plan was passed.
Referring to the opposition to the pullout plan and the call of a national referendum, Sharon said Knesset decisions are the key to a broad national consensus.
"The Knesset is the chosen institution, and only it has right to discuss and decide, and we will all accept the judgment and act together, in true unity, to implement the decisions," Sharon said.
Meanwhile, Sharon promised the Knesset "constant supervision" over the implementation of the disengagement plan, and left the door open to change it or back away from it if the security situation deteriorates.
"We will reserve the right to determine the state of security and adapt the plan to the reality, with the main priority of defending ourselves and preventing terror," he said.
Sharon's timetable for his disengagement plan changed as the plan has met strong opposition from his own ruling Likud party and the settlers.
According to Sharon's plan as approved in June, the 21 Gaza settlements are to be removed in three stages by the end of September 2005, and four small West Bank settlements are also to be evacuated.
On Aug. 18, Sharon suffered a setback in his Likud party as anon-binding vote rejected his plan to invite the main opposition Labor party into a coalition government in a bid to rally support for the disengagement plan.
Sharon then presented an accelerated Gaza pullout timetable to lawmakers of his ruling Likud party at the end of August. Some said that such an pullout from Gaza is a reward to the Palestinian "terrorists" and strongly opposed to it.
Sharon, who has been resolved to stick to his plan, insisting the Jewish presence in Gaza has become untenable after four years of fighting with about 8,000 Jews in 21 settlements living along 1.3 million Palestinians.
(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2004)
|
