At today's Likud meeting between Prime Minister Sharon and Cabinet ministers, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu did not take the strong stand that opponents of the withdrawal plan had hoped for - but he did set three conditions for his support of the program. The first is that Israel must control all entrances and exits to the Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphi route separating Egypt and Gaza. Secondly, the counter-terrorism partition fence around Judea and Samaria must be completed - including around as-yet undefined "settlement blocs" and Route 443 (the Modiin-Jerusalem Highway) - before he would agree to the retreat. Thirdly, Netanyahu said, the Americans must issue public declarations in support of settlement blocs in Yesha and against the so-called Right of Return for Arabs who left Israel in 1948.
Netanyahu also said that we must not retreat under fire, but must rather ensure that Gaza-based terrorism is neutralized before a withdrawal. It is not clear whether Netanyahu plans to stand on every dot of his conditions in order to oppose the plan, or whether he will allow them to be fulfilled in an ambivalent manner so that he need not oppose it. Right-wing leaders are fearful that the second possibility is more accurate.
"I would never have initiated such a plan of disengagement," Netanyahu said, "but now that the decision has been made, we must minimize the damage." Several Likud ministers, including those considered to be Netanyahu's political allies, were quick to protest. Minister Yisrael Katz said that Netanyahu had stripped himself of all responsibility, and denied that a decision had as yet been made. Katz said that every minister must present his full opinion on the matter.
Not all the ministers had a chance to speak, and the meeting will resume when Sharon's aide Dov Weisglass returns from the U.S. this week
Netanyahu also said that we must not retreat under fire, but must rather ensure that Gaza-based terrorism is neutralized before a withdrawal. It is not clear whether Netanyahu plans to stand on every dot of his conditions in order to oppose the plan, or whether he will allow them to be fulfilled in an ambivalent manner so that he need not oppose it. Right-wing leaders are fearful that the second possibility is more accurate.
"I would never have initiated such a plan of disengagement," Netanyahu said, "but now that the decision has been made, we must minimize the damage." Several Likud ministers, including those considered to be Netanyahu's political allies, were quick to protest. Minister Yisrael Katz said that Netanyahu had stripped himself of all responsibility, and denied that a decision had as yet been made. Katz said that every minister must present his full opinion on the matter.
Not all the ministers had a chance to speak, and the meeting will resume when Sharon's aide Dov Weisglass returns from the U.S. this week