ISRAEL: Israeli ministers yesterday approved advance payments for Jewish settlers willing to voluntarily leave their homes. It constituted a rare political victory for Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon, who is facing stiff opposition to his Gaza withdrawal plan.
The security cabinet voted 9-1 in favour of payments that will give settler families up to $350,000 depending on the size of their homes and how long they have resided in the territories.
Until actual legislation on the matter goes to parliament in early November, families who leave voluntarily will be able to receive cash advances of up to a third of the final compensation payment.
Mr Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan calls for the evacuation of all 21 settlements in Gaza - home to 7,500 settlers - and four in the northern West Bank.
He is hoping that by offering compensation before the evacuation formally gets under way next year, many settlers will be encouraged to leave their homes voluntarily, and resistance to a pull-out will be reduced.
Mr Sharon also rejected the idea yesterday for a national referendum on his plan.
The Prime Minister, who was reacting to a proposal by his main rival in the ruling Likud party, Finance Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, said a referendum was "not on the agenda", and that the schedule for a withdrawal - he wants to complete the pull-out by the end of 2005 - did not allow sufficient time for such a ballot.
Meanwhile, police announced yesterday that Mr Sharon and a senior official in charge of implementing the withdrawal had been the target of telephone death threats from Jewish extremists.
"We have opened an intensive investigation regarding threats that have been received in recent days," said Jerusalem police chief Mr Ilan Franco.
"The threats were to murder the Prime Minister and officials in the \ administration."
In recent weeks, Mr Sharon has been the target of increasingly strident verbal attacks by settlers and their supporters.
Some politicians on the left have accused the settlers of again fomenting an atmosphere of incitement, like that which existed when prime minister Mr Yitzhak Rabin was gunned down nine years ago by a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process.
A settler rabbi said yesterday that if he was asked to conduct a special mystical ceremony calling for Mr Sharon to be killed he would do so.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, a Palestinian suicide bomber riding a bicycle blew himself up at a military checkpoint, wounding three soldiers.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which is loosely associated with Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, claimed responsibility.