Thursday, 17 February 2005Nina Gilbert
In a turning point in the history of the nation, the Knesset approved the Disengagement Implementation Law by a wide majority on Wednesday, empowering the government to pay NIS 3.8 billion to 9,000 settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank and begin evacuating them in five months.
The law was approved in a 59-40 vote with five abstentions. The opponents included 17 Likud MKs.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon got another boost when the Knesset expressed resounding opposition to a referendum on disengagement. It removed a measure that was to have left the door open for a referendum by putting a 21-day delay on the evacuation order. An amendment to make the implementation of the law conditional on a referendum was also rejected in a 72-26 vote, with haredi and Arab parties joining in the vote against referendum.
National Union MK Zvi Hendel, the Knesset's only Gaza settler, got up calmly from his seat after the vote, and was consoled by MKs Uri Ariel (National Union) and Yitzhak Levy (National Religious Party) before leaving the plenum with his head bowed.
Hendel said that despite the passage of the bill he was "convinced" that the plan would not be carried out and that the "people would decide."
Yahad MK Ran Cohen, who tried for years to get the Knesset to evacuate settlers, called the vote a "historic move that would hasten peace."
The Knesset voted in 1982 to evacuate the Sinai settlements, but the vote Wednesday cedes settlements in areas that are considered to be part of the Land of Israel. The four isolated northern West Bank settlements are Ganim, Kadim, Homesh, and Sa-Nur.
MKs from the Likud, Labor, Shinui, Yahad, and the United Arab List supported the law. The National Religious Party, National Union, Shas and 17 Likud MKs, including Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and coalition chair Gideon Sa'ar, voted against.
Rivlin warned the disengagement plan was only the start of the process. He said the Likud came to power because it had "convinced the people in the last elections that Oslo would tear apart the state," and the decision to disengage from Gaza was "much more dangerous."
The MKs from Agudat Yisrael and Degel Hatorah did not take part in the vote.
At one point, MK Yuli Edelstein, a Likud renegade, confused his colleague Yuval Steinitz when he called out for MKs to vote "against." Steinitz realized his mistake in time to vote in favor.
The evacuation, scheduled to start in July, is now nearly unstoppable, and only requires cabinet approval and the prime minister and the defense minister to issue evacuation orders. Theoretically, it could be halted by a referendum or the toppling of the Sharon government if he fails to get a majority for the 2005 budget by March 31.
The cabinet vote to give settlers' notice of the evacuation is scheduled for Sunday. A source in the Prime Minister's Office said Sharon was not likely to issue the evacuation orders for at least another month.
Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who is responsible for the implementation of disengagement, said Israel had already made it clear "to the world" that it would be leaving Gaza according to the decision made by the Knesset. "Now you want a referendum," he said to MKs on the Right. "There is no chance that Gaza would be a part of the Jewish state," Peres said.
Law Committee chairman Michael Eitan (Likud), who initiated the 21-day delay clause, expressed pessimism about the possibility of a referendum on the withdrawal after the measure was removed from the law. "It's a pity," said Eitan, who thought a referendum would ease tensions in advance of disengagement.
Transport Minister Meir Sheetrit (Likud), who was responsible for the implementation law, said he was sure that after the law was approved there would be "very large traffic" by settlers into the Disengagement Authority offices to arrange compensation.
At a news conference Wednesday, he refused to state how many settlers were already negotiating with the government for alternative housing. He would only say that there were "dozens of groups."
Sheetrit said the government had "gone out of its way" to placate the demands of settlers. He noted that compensation for businesses had been doubled, and settlers with homes would get another NIS 1 billion in compensation.
Settlers who move to the Negev, Galilee or coastal town of Ashkelon are to be entitled to a $30,000 bonus. A clause that would have included Gush Etzion as an area for preferred relocation was rejected. But Sheetrit said there was no ban on the administration moving groups to the area.
Labor MK Avraham Shochat, who chaired the Finance Committee's work on the bill, said an average family would get NIS 934,000 in compensation.
The final price tag for the compensation and evacuation of settlers and IDF bases is estimated at between NIS 6 billion and NIS 7b, according to Sheetrit.
According to a table issued by Sheetrit on Wednesday, increases to the overall compensation packages range from 30 to 60 percent for property owners. The highest bracket of compensation is estimated at between NIS 2 million to NIS 3 million. A person who rented a home in the settlements for 15 years would also be entitled to some NIS 256,000.
"It was a huge mistake," said Haim Ramon of the Labor Party's decision in the 1970s to settle the Gaza Strip. He said the aim was to "make five fingers", in other words, to effectively annex the Gaza Strip. "Netzarim is Dir Ballah, get it into your head," he said to right-wing MKs.
The evacuation clauses were made more lenient by the Knesset Law Committee. Settlers who live in the areas and don't evacuate by the deadline can be punished by up to six months in prison instead of a year. Others who will be in the area illegally can be sentenced to two years instead of three. Families may be jailed together.
Sa'ar said the death of Yasser Arafat and the election of Mahmoud Abbas should have resulted in a reassessment of the plan, which had been formulated based on a different reality.
The Knesset was buzzing during the day over the absence of Shinui MK Reshef Cheyne from the marathon debate. Cheyne was on a ski holiday in the French Alps. Rivlin said he couldn't believe that someone would go on vacation during such a critical vote. |
Thursday, 17 February 2005
Jerusalem Post
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