<font color=brown> If you understand what went down in Israel, let me know........these article isn't making a lot of sense........at least, not to me. <font color=black>
ted
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Sharon's Gaza plan may face 10-month delay
By Harvey Morris in Jerusalem
Published: June 6 2004 20:06 | Last Updated: June 6 2004 20:06
Ariel Sharon, Israeli prime minister, on Sunday night won cabinet backing for his controversial Gaza withdrawal plan, but at the cost of accepting a compromise deal that could postpone setting a date for the pull-out for 10 months.
As the political crisis teetered, at times, on the brink of farce, analysts speculated that the days of the government might be numbered if Mr Sharon failed to secure a truce among warring factions in his ruling Likud party.
His victory in cabinet looked unlikely in the long run to quell the political unrest prompted by his decision to remove all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank.
His key Likud opponents, including Benjamin Netanyahu, finance minister, were understood to have dropped their objections in response to a compromise that would avoid a firm commitment to dismantle settlements unilaterally, which they oppose.
It would, however, allow Mr Sharon to tell the public he would obtain government support for an evacuation date by March 2005.
In an atmosphere of political confusion on Sunday, a High Court judge had urged the government to postpone a vote on the plan. Supporters of two far-right ministers fired by Mr Sharon on Friday went to court to challenge the dismissals on Sunday morning, hours before the cabinet was due to vote.
However, the court later dismissed all petitions filed on behalf of the Avigdor Liberman and Benny Elon.
Members of the international "Quartet" - the US, United Nations, European Union and Russia - believe Mr Sharon's unilateral Gaza withdrawal plan is the only option at the moment for restarting the stalled peace process.
But the proposal has come unstuck as a result of domestic political infighting that involves, among others, a number of Likud ministers jockeying for position in a potential leadership struggle with Mr Sharon.
The broad public consensus, reflected in opinion polls, is in favour of quitting Gaza. But analysts believe that, in the final analysis, Mr Sharon may only be able to tap that support by calling early elections.
The crisis has weakened his position in the Knesset, since the ousting of the two National Union ministers cost him the support of the party's seven parliamentarians.
The pro-settler National Religious party, with six seats in parliament, was also debating pulling out of the coalition in protest against the Gaza plan.
His coalition's slim parliamentary majority could evaporate, if Likud rebels in the Knesset decided to join the opposition to unilateral withdrawal.
If a power struggle ensued, the rival Likud faction leaders might try to form a new government from the existing Knesset by courting the opposition Labour party or the ultra-orthodox parties left out of the predominantly rightwing cabinet when it was formed last year. An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced Marwan Barghouti, former leader of Fatah militias in the West Bank, to five life sentences for murder. He was also sentenced to 20 years for membership of a terrorist organisation. Mr Barghouti has often been seen as a potential successor to Yassir Arafat as leader of the Palestinian movement.
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