Sharon Will Modify Gaza Withdrawal Plan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4049472,00.html

Sharon Will Modify Gaza Withdrawal Plan

Monday May 3, 2004 8:16 PM


By RAVI NESSMAN

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday he will come up with an alternative withdrawal plan after his proposal to pull out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank was resoundingly rejected by members of his Likud Party.

Israeli officials suggested the plan - which had won U.S. backing and was popular with Israelis - would be slightly scaled down and the new version would not be put to a Likud vote. <snip>

Sharon's original plan envisioned an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, home to 7,500 settlers in 21 settlements, and the evacuation of four small settlements in the West Bank by the end of 2005. <snip>

Education Minister Limor Livnat, who supported Sharon's proposal only reluctantly, said she wanted a new plan that did not include a withdrawal from three settlements in northern Gaza and any settlements in the West Bank.

Moderate members of Sharon's coalition said the disengagement plan had strong public support and demanded it be presented to the Cabinet, saying it was absurd to give a tiny fraction of the population a virtual veto over matters of such vital importance to the nation. <snip>

and shove it. :grr:

which happens to be basically the same as the plan all along. I still think they have every intention of carrying on BAU until a more opportune time to take whatever they want.