Israeli Parliament Approves Gaza Withdrawal Plan, Payments to Settlers

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The New York Sun

JERUSALEM – Israel’s Parliament agreed yesterday to pay nearly $900 million in compensation to 9,000 Jewish settlers who will be uprooted when Israel pulls out of the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.


The package, part of a bill authorizing Prime Minister Sharon’s pullout plan, will result in payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars to each settler family forced to leave.


The compensation for settlers depends on the size of a family, whether it owns or rents, what it owns, and how long it has lived in the settlement.


Under the plan, a couple with two children who have rented a home in a settlement for the past 15 years would receive just over $230,000. A similar family that owned a home would get about 30% more, or about $300,000. Families that own farmland or businesses in an affected settlement or that agree to move to development zones in the Negev desert or the Galilee would receive extra money.


The vote marked the last Knesset authorization needed before this summer’s withdrawal, and some officials feared the approval of a pullout would spark a new wave of protest, civil disobedience, and possibly violence by settlers and others.


Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres called the vote “a clear decision for peace,” while the Settlers’ Council said it marked “a black day for democracy.”


As the Israeli government shored up support for the withdrawal, Palestinian Arab officials approved a Cabinet expected to put allies of their leader Mahmoud Abbas in control of security forces and other key departments. The Cabinet, whose makeup was not announced, is to be presented to Parliament next week for approval, said Ahmed Qureia, Palestinian prime minister.


Mr. Abbas, who was elected last month, has agreed to a cease-fire with Israel and promised to work to prevent attacks by insurgents. In response, Mr. Sharon says he will coordinate the pullout, originally planned as a unilateral move. However, Mr. Sharon threatened harsh reprisals if Mr. Abbas is unable to ensure calm during the pullout.


Mr. Sharon says his “disengagement” plan will solidify Israel’s grip on large West Bank settlement blocs, but settlers fear it will set a precedent for the removal of other settlements.


The bill, approved yesterday by a vote of 59 to 40 with five abstentions, allocated $871 million for the estimated 9,000 settlers who will be displaced when Israel pulls down all 21 settlements in Gaza and four others in the northern West Bank.


The vote took hours as legislators decided on nearly 200 proposed amendments, soundly defeating one requiring a national referendum on the plan. Mr. Sharon has rejected such a vote as a delaying tactic.


The plan still needs to overcome several more hurdles before it can be implemented.


Mr. Sharon must pass a budget by March 31 or his government will collapse, possibly taking the withdrawal down with it, because a new election would have to be called.


The ultra-Orthodox Shas party said yesterday it would not support Mr. Sharon’s budget, which would deprive Mr. Sharon of a majority. Shas has made similar declarations in the past, and the party might be trying to improve its negotiating position in budget talks.


The Cabinet will hold a procedural vote Sunday on the plan and will have separate votes later on each of the withdrawal’s four phases.


Settlers have stepped up protests in recent days. During the vote yesterday, opponents again disrupted traffic on several main highways, burning tires and trying to block intersections with their bodies, police spokesman Gil Kleiman said. Thirteen people were arrested.


“The opposition to the disengagement plan hasn’t been defeated yet,” said hawkish lawmaker Effie Eitam.


Some settlers and Israeli extremists have threatened violence against ministers and lawmakers who support the withdrawal; Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz received a meat hook in the mail, a member of Mr. Sharon’s Likud Party was threatened with gang rape, and Mr. Sharon said some opponents threatened to dig up the body of his late wife Lily.


Former Jerusalem police chief Aryeh Amit said the rhetoric was reminiscent of the atmosphere preceding the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist.


“All the signs that there were then, which people pretty much ignored, are back again but much clearer,” he told Army Radio. “The extreme right is saying that now war has really been declared, and in their view, in war they feel they are entitled to do anything they want.”


However, Cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit played down the settlers’ threats, saying most of them “have internalized the decision [and] are ready to move.”


The New York Sun

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