Sharon To Appeal to Rivals for Pullout
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
TEL AVIV, Israel – Fresh from a painful parliamentary defeat, Prime Minister Sharon said yesterday he’ll turn to his old rivals in the Labor Party to save his shattered coalition and get the support he needs to leave the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to Israeli newspaper and broadcast editors, Mr. Sharon also extended something of an olive branch to the Palestinian Arabs, saying Israel won’t launch offensives in their territory if the situation remains calm.
On Wednesday, Mr. Sharon dismissed one of his key coalition partners, the secular-rights Shinui party, after it voted against his 2005 budget. That left Mr. Sharon, whose government was already close to collapsing due to hard-line opposition to his Gaza withdrawal, with only 40 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
If Mr. Sharon can’t patch together a new coalition, he would be forced to call early elections, an outcome that could stall his plans to withdraw all Israeli troops and civilians from Gaza next year.
Speaking to the Israeli journalists, Mr. Sharon said he’d seek to bring Labor and fervently Orthodox Jewish parties into his government. “We are standing before fateful decisions, and it’s important that there be a broad and stable coalition,” Mr. Sharon said.
Labor is seen likely to agree to join to salvage the Gaza pullout. However, many Labor stalwarts oppose linking up with Mr. Sharon, their traditional ideological and political rival.
The withdrawal from Gaza and four West Bank settlements is seen as key to restarting Middle East peace talks.
Mr. Sharon said nothing will stop him from carrying out the withdrawal. “Disengagement will be implemented, period,” he said twice.
The plan had been intended as a unilateral action, but since Yasser Arafat’s death, Mr. Sharon has spoken of coordinating the pullout with the Palestinian Arabs.
Israel has said it planned to ease conditions in the West Bank and Gaza so as not to interfere with the election. Since Arafat’s death, the level of violence between the two sides has decreased.
Mr. Sharon said Israel would carry out military actions only if it sensed an imminent attack or if it were attacked.
“If there is quiet, we of course will not act,” Mr. Sharon said.
