Middlea East: In his most detailed statement so far on his plan to unilaterally disengage from the Palestinian territories, Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said yesterday he had given an order to plan for the removal of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip. But, critically, Mr Sharon did not provide a timetable for such a move.
His remarks, made in an interview to the liberal daily Haaretz and confirmed later in a meeting with his Likud faction, set off a political storm. They were met with derision by Palestinian leaders, threats by members of his right-wing coalition to bring down the government, and accusations from the left-wing Labor-led opposition that the prime minister was engaging in "spin".
"I have given an order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip," Mr Sharon told Haaretz.
"It is my intention to carry out an evacuation - sorry, a relocation - of settlements that cause us problems and of places that we will not hold onto anyway in a final agreement, like the Gaza settlements," the Prime Minister added.
Mr Sharon also said he was working on the "assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza". (There are a total of 21 settlements in the Strip, with a combined population of 7,500 Jews. According to some reports, Mr Sharon does not plan to evacuate several settlements in northern Gaza.) The Israeli leader has said in recent weeks that in the absence of diplomatic progress with the Palestinians, he would begin to implement his "disengagement" plan. So far, he has been short on details, saying only that some isolated settlements would have to be moved and a boundary drawn. But he has ordered Israel's National Security Council to examine plans for disconnecting from the Palestinians, starting with Gaza.
As in the past, Mr Sharon steered clear of outlining any timeframe for implementing his unilateral plan. He did seem to intimate, however, that an evacuation of settlements was not imminent.
"To move thousands of dunams of hothouses, educational institutions, thousands and thousands of vehicles, it's not a quick matter, especially if it's done under fire," he said.
One Likud official quoted Mr Sharon telling lawmakers from his party that he did not know "if it will be done in one go, or gradually, but over the course of time it will not be right to continue Jewish settlement in Gaza".
Labor lawmakers scoffed at Mr Sharon's announcement, suggesting he has been big on talk, but woefully short on action. "Until we see something being carried out, we will relate to this only as words," said Labor leader Mr Shimon Peres.
Palestinian leaders were equally scornful. "He plans to remove 17 mobile homes? What, so they can replace them with another 170," said Palestinian Authority President Mr Yasser Arafat.
But right-wing members of Mr Sharon's hardline coalition took him seriously, saying his plan would only spur Palestinian attacks. Mr Zvi Hendel, a far-right lawmaker, accused the prime minister of floating his Gaza blueprint in a cynical bid to deflect attention from corruption probes against him.
In the first sign of rebellion within his coalition, two right-wing parties were absent from a no-confidence vote yesterday, which narrowly failed to pass (42-41). Losing the vote would have embarrassed Mr Sharon, who heads a 73-seat coalition in the 120-seat parliament, but his government would not have fallen since an absolute majority is needed to topple him.
Some commentators have questioned whether Mr Sharon, a patron of the settlement movement over the years, will ever go through with his talk of uprooting settlements. The first sign that he is serious, they say, will be when the far-right parties actually leave his coalition.
Mr Sharon, though, is likely to face stiff opposition within his own Likud party, where a majority of lawmakers are said to oppose his plan, including senior ministers.
"My position has been made known publicly in the past, and it hasn't changed: unilateral steps will not lead to a lessening of the confrontation," said Foreign Minister Mr Silvan Shalom.
Mr Sharon plans to present his ideas to President Bush, most likely at the end of the month when he is expected to travel to Washington.
Violence continued yesterday, with five Palestinian militants killed in clashes with Israeli troops in Gaza and the West Bank.
Two Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded in one of the incidences, in Bethlehem.