Israeli parliament approves Gaza evacuation bill

JERUSALEM - Israel's parliament has approved compensation for settlers to be evacuated from Gaza, clearing a big hurdle for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to cede the occupied territory to Palestinians.

Middle East mediators see the Gaza pullout as a springboard toward peace negotiations whose prospects have brightened since a Feb. 8 ceasefire summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

After two days of fierce debate, Sharon pushed through the 59-40 vote with the help of dovish deputies inside and outside his "unity" coalition to override a mutiny in his right-wing Likud party and spiralling protests by nationalist settlers.

Supporters said the vote proved that Israel was solidly in favor of quitting Gaza, but a settler group said it was a "black day for democracy."

Sharon has just 66 seats in the 120-member Knesset. Thirteen of Likud's 40 deputies vowed to reject the bill but Sharon needed only a majority of votes cast.

One more serious stumbling block to the Gaza plan looms in a pending vote on Israel's 2005 budget. Sharon has failed so far to forge an ad hoc majority to defeat Likud rebels and religious rightists bent on forcing early elections.

Sharon's cabinet is expected to vote on Sunday to authorize a start to evacuations, but he must get the budget passed by March 31 or his government will fall automatically.

Some 8,500 Gaza settlers and a few hundred of over 230,000 in the West Bank are to be uprooted from July to September. Many of the Gaza settlers vow to resist and ultra-rightists have made threats on Sharon's life and vilified him as a new "Hitler."

The legislation provides for a total of 3.8 billion shekels, or US$870 million, in compensation. Payments per family would range from US$200,000 to US$500,000, depending on size of assets.

Sharon aims to keep large settlement blocs in the West Bank for good. Palestinians fear the Gaza pullout will come at the expense of a tighter Israeli grip on the West Bank, dimming hopes for a viable independent state.

Israeli right-wingers condemn the Gaza plan as a "reward to terrorism," alluding to a four-year Palestinian revolt. Right-wing Israelis vented anger at Wednesday's vote by burning tires at five major intersections around Israel.

"Israel's current parliament will forever be remembered for approving the transfer of Jews," the Yesha settler council said in a statement.

Sharon, pilloried by far rightists since his turnabout from being the champion of settlers to one of ceding occupied land he says Israel has no need to keep in a final peace deal, said he would not buckle to intimidation.

Polls show most Israelis believe Gaza, where 1.3 million Palestinians hem in 21 fortified Jewish enclaves, is a bloody quagmire without strategic value and should be abandoned.

However, concern about disruptions to the pullout raised by diehard settlers heightened with word that Sharon had cut short the term of army chief General Moshe Yaalon, meaning he would leave service in July just as evacuations are to begin.

No reason was given for the decision. Yaalon had angered Sharon for criticizing some policies, saying in 2003 that Israel was not doing enough to ease hardships on Palestinians or bolster then-Palestinian premier Abbas during a brief truce.

Sharon affirmed on Tuesday that he would coordinate the Gaza withdrawal with what he described as a "new Palestinian leadership that ... would like to stop terror," easing fears of a chaotic vacuum in the territory after the settlers leave.

Abbas, who held his first talks on Wednesday with a new US security envoy, won a landslide election on Jan. 9 to succeed Yasser Arafat on a platform of non-violent struggle for a state via a US-devised "road map" peace plan. An aide to Abbas described the talks as positive.

US Army Lt. Gen. William Ward was named this month to help Palestinians reform their security forces following mutual ceasefire declarations by Sharon and Abbas. The truce has largely held although Palestinian militants have yet to seal it with a formal commitment.

- REUTERS