JERUSALEM, 15 June 2004 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon comfortably passed his first test in Parliament yesterday since losing his overall majority when deputies defeated a motion of no confidence in his Gaza pullout plan.
A total of 37 members of the 120-seat chamber voted against the censure motion tabled by the far right-wing National Union, while 22 members voted for the motion. The remaining deputies either abstained or were not present. The National Union was a partner in the ruling coalition until earlier this month, when Sharon sacked ministers Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Elon to ensure a majority in cabinet for his “disengagement” plan. Following the resignation of two more ministers from the far-right National Religious Party in a protest over the same issue, Sharon was subsequently left with the theoretical support of only 59 deputies.
Sharon’s victory in Parliament was mainly due to a decision by the main opposition Labor party, widely expected to soon enter a more broad-based coalition government, not to make common cause with the extreme right. It has given its qualified approval to Sharon’s proposal, which envisages the pullout of all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four other isolated enclaves in the northern West Bank by the end of next year.
In turn, Sharon has vowed to strengthen Israeli control over larger settlement blocs in the West Bank. Sharon is expected to submit a full version of the disengagement plan for a vote in Parliament later this year.
Apart from angering the right-wing parties, Sharon has also infuriated some members of his own Likud faction by forging ahead with the pullout plan even though it was roundly rejected in a referendum of party members six weeks ago. Sharon has tried to allay fears that Hamas could step into the breach after an Israeli withdrawal, by looking to Egyptian involvement in future security arrangements in Gaza.
A top leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the northern West Bank said he would call a cease-fire if Israel pulled troops and settlers out of his area as part of the disengagement plan. “I will have no problem in stopping attacks after an Israeli retreat in our sector and when they no longer come in every day with their tanks to kill us,” Zakaria Zubeidi told Israeli public radio.
Further south, the mayor of Ariel, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the territories, said construction work had begun to incorporate the town within the separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.
“The building work has begun in our sector and shows that Ariel is being included within the barrier and is an integral part of Israel,” mayor Ron Nahman said. The decision to build around Ariel is particularly contentious as the barrier juts some 20 kilometers (12 miles) into Palestinian territory to protect the 16,000 Jewish residents.
Israeli military sources also said they had begun removing some 40 barriers on West Bank roads to allow for freer movement of Palestinian civilians.
In another development, Israel’s attorney general has decided not to indict Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on bribery charges, Israeli television said, signaling the end of a scandal overshadowing his landmark Gaza pullback plan. Israeli officials were not available for comment on the Channel Ten report that Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz had closed the case due to lack of evidence against Sharon. Mazuz is expected to issue his formal decision some time this week.
The bribery case centers on payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars that an Israeli land developer was said to have made to Sharon’s son Gilad, hired in the late 1990s as an adviser on a never-completed project to build a Greek resort.
