"I have given orders to begin the work immediately and without delay," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened the Cabinet meeting today, "in order to meet the timetable we have set, namely, the completion of the evacuation by 2005."
Sharon also said that last week's Cabinet decision approving the disengagement/expulsion plan also included the approval of several committees working to advance the retreat.
The Cabinet is expected to approve today the request of Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) to grant him some of the functions filled by resigned party leader Minister Effie Eitam. Eitam was a member of the mini-security cabinet and the ministerial committee for legislation.
The tension between Eitam and Orlev continues, on the backdrop of Eitam's unilateral resignation from the government last week. Eitam said he could not continue to be part of a government that has decided to uproot Jewish towns - but he was unable to convince the rest of his party to quit the coalition. Orlev is of the opinion that as long as the evacuation has not begun, the NRP must remain to "fight from within." MK Yitzchak Levy, who agrees with Eitam and who resigned his Deputy Ministerial position, says that the NRP cannot effectively do that, because "as soon as matters come to a critical vote in the Cabinet, Sharon will throw us out and replace us with Labor."
Of the 6 MKs of the NRP, Orlev is supported mainly by Sha'ul Yahalom, with Gila Finkelstein and Nissan Slomiansky also on their side but leaning towards quitting. Finkelstein said on Friday that among her top concerns is to maintain party unity, and that Eitam should not have made his decision to resign on his own. "It could even be that we will quit [this] week if we see that the evacuation is actually beginning," she told Arutz-7's Yosef Meiri on Friday.
Today's announcement by Sharon is merely the latest indication that the wheel of evacuation has actually begun rolling. All government-funded building has been stopped in Gaza, the Erez Industrial Zone is on its way to being closed, a timetable for the evacuation/expulsion has been released, and Gush Katif residents report that the government has begun "to put security pressure on us as well, partially removing soldiers from roadblocks and from the main roads." Arutz-7's calls to Orlev's spokesmen over the past few days have not yet been returned.
The six MKs of the NRP are scheduled to meet tomorrow afternoon for their weekly Knesset faction meeting. A spokesperson for MK Levy told Arutz-7 that on the agenda is the question of how to vote in tomorrow's no-confidence motion against the government. The required 61 MKs necessary to topple the government will not be attained in any event, as Labor has promised to not to vote in favor of the motion.
Sharon also said that last week's Cabinet decision approving the disengagement/expulsion plan also included the approval of several committees working to advance the retreat.
The Cabinet is expected to approve today the request of Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) to grant him some of the functions filled by resigned party leader Minister Effie Eitam. Eitam was a member of the mini-security cabinet and the ministerial committee for legislation.
The tension between Eitam and Orlev continues, on the backdrop of Eitam's unilateral resignation from the government last week. Eitam said he could not continue to be part of a government that has decided to uproot Jewish towns - but he was unable to convince the rest of his party to quit the coalition. Orlev is of the opinion that as long as the evacuation has not begun, the NRP must remain to "fight from within." MK Yitzchak Levy, who agrees with Eitam and who resigned his Deputy Ministerial position, says that the NRP cannot effectively do that, because "as soon as matters come to a critical vote in the Cabinet, Sharon will throw us out and replace us with Labor."
Of the 6 MKs of the NRP, Orlev is supported mainly by Sha'ul Yahalom, with Gila Finkelstein and Nissan Slomiansky also on their side but leaning towards quitting. Finkelstein said on Friday that among her top concerns is to maintain party unity, and that Eitam should not have made his decision to resign on his own. "It could even be that we will quit [this] week if we see that the evacuation is actually beginning," she told Arutz-7's Yosef Meiri on Friday.
Today's announcement by Sharon is merely the latest indication that the wheel of evacuation has actually begun rolling. All government-funded building has been stopped in Gaza, the Erez Industrial Zone is on its way to being closed, a timetable for the evacuation/expulsion has been released, and Gush Katif residents report that the government has begun "to put security pressure on us as well, partially removing soldiers from roadblocks and from the main roads." Arutz-7's calls to Orlev's spokesmen over the past few days have not yet been returned.
The six MKs of the NRP are scheduled to meet tomorrow afternoon for their weekly Knesset faction meeting. A spokesperson for MK Levy told Arutz-7 that on the agenda is the question of how to vote in tomorrow's no-confidence motion against the government. The required 61 MKs necessary to topple the government will not be attained in any event, as Labor has promised to not to vote in favor of the motion.