Prime Minister Sharon is planning to soon present his alternative to the now-defunct unilateral disengagement plan: a unilateral disengagement in stages. Both plans stipulate the end of Jewish presence in Gaza and in four towns in the northern Shomron.
Sharon will announce today if he will present the "new" plan at next week's Cabinet meeting, or the one after.
The Prime Minister has met with several government ministers in recent days and briefed them on the details of the program. It still includes a planned expulsion of the 8,500 residents of Gush Katif and parts of northern Shomron, but is slated to begin only with Morag and Kfar Darom. Sharon now plans to destroy the residents' homes and not give them over to the terrorists, but the industrial areas will remain intact. An international presence in some of the evacuated areas is being considered.
The other communities will be destroyed, according to the plan, in two additional stages, with a Cabinet vote of approval before each one.
Health Minister Danny Naveh has already said that Sharon's changes are too minor to be considered significantly changing that which the Likud membership voted down, and that he will therefore vote against the new plan. Other ministers, such as Netanyahu, Shalom and Livnat, are once again carefully measuring their steps. The three said they favored the previous plan, but did not offer active support during the referendum campaign.
Minister Uzi Landau, who has become the leader of the Likud anti-withdrawal forces, said that the government might well fall apart before the matter comes to a Knesset vote. He warned that there are many Likud MKs who will bolt the party rather than support a government that would withdraw from Gush Katif.
Sharon will announce today if he will present the "new" plan at next week's Cabinet meeting, or the one after.
The Prime Minister has met with several government ministers in recent days and briefed them on the details of the program. It still includes a planned expulsion of the 8,500 residents of Gush Katif and parts of northern Shomron, but is slated to begin only with Morag and Kfar Darom. Sharon now plans to destroy the residents' homes and not give them over to the terrorists, but the industrial areas will remain intact. An international presence in some of the evacuated areas is being considered.
The other communities will be destroyed, according to the plan, in two additional stages, with a Cabinet vote of approval before each one.
Health Minister Danny Naveh has already said that Sharon's changes are too minor to be considered significantly changing that which the Likud membership voted down, and that he will therefore vote against the new plan. Other ministers, such as Netanyahu, Shalom and Livnat, are once again carefully measuring their steps. The three said they favored the previous plan, but did not offer active support during the referendum campaign.
Minister Uzi Landau, who has become the leader of the Likud anti-withdrawal forces, said that the government might well fall apart before the matter comes to a Knesset vote. He warned that there are many Likud MKs who will bolt the party rather than support a government that would withdraw from Gush Katif.