The Israeli Knesset (parliament) on Tuesday approved Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

It was historic as the Israeli lawmakers voted for what would be the first evacuation of Jewish settlers from lands the Palestinians seek for a state.

After two days of fierce debate, the 120-member Knesset voted67-45 for the disengagement plan with seven abstentions, while one deputy, Yehudit Naot, was absent.

Sharon's victory was partly attributed to the support of Shimon Peres' main opposition Labor party which holds 19 parliament seats. Peres said after the vote that his party "will continue to act according to the needs of peace" when asked whether Labor would continue to provide a safety net for the current coalition. Although the plan was passed by the legislators comfortably, Sharon paid a high price for his victory.

The so-called Sharon Plan has splintered his governing coalition and deeply divided his own Likud party.

The National Religious Party (NRP), which is one of three parties in the unity government, warned that it would quit in a fortnight if Sharon did not hold a referendum on the issue. Following the parliament session, Sharon fired Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Michael Ratzon (Likud) for voting against his disengagement plan.

Minister without Portfolio Uzi Landau (Likud) also received a letter of dismissal.

Landau has consistently voiced his opposition to the pullout plan and is seen as the leader of the "rebel" camp in ruling Likud. Education Minister Limor Livnat and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially threatened to abstain in the vote but eventually supported the government.

Netanyahu told reporters that his compromise was to give the plan a chance, but he together with three other Likud ministers would resign in two weeks unless Sharon accepted the NRP ultimatum. "We have decided to give the prime minister two weeks to announce a referendum, if not, we will not be able to see ourselves as staying in this government," Netanyahu said.
 
Livnat and Netanyahu were both absent from the first round of voting, but they voted in favor of it in the second round. Sharon plans to evacuate settlers and troops from all 21fortified enclaves in Gaza and four others in the northern West Bank by September 2005 in four phases, each of which will be put to subsequent votes in the Knesset.

Under the four-phase plan, Israeli troops and more than 8,000Jewish settlers will leave Palestinian land for the first time since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.During the first phase, the Gaza settlements of Morag are to be dismantled; in the second phase, four isolated enclaves in the northern West Bank will be evacuated; the third phase will see the dismantling of another 11 settlements in Gaza and in the final phase, the remaining three settlements in north Gaza will be dismantled.

According to Israeli government spokesman Raanan Gissin, the disengagement will begin by March 2005.

The Sharon Plan has not only aroused internal discord but also incurred protests from the Palestinians.

Earlier in the day, the Palestinian National Authority issued a statement, claiming that Israel's real purpose for the withdrawal is to separate Gaza from the West Bank so as to dash their hope of establishing an independent state.

It emphasized that the Palestinian territory is a unity that cannot be separated.

The statement also urged the Mideast quartet -- the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia – to pressure Israel and force it to implement the roadmap peace plan. "Without negotiation, peace will be impossible," commented chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Israel's unilateral plan of disengagement.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2004)