Israeli officials begin planning Gaza withdrawal

JERUSALEM -- The governmental committee in charge of overseeing Israel's withdrawal from Gaza held its first meeting Wednesday, despite new turmoil in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling coalition over the plan.\nThe committee, consisting of top officials from the Defense Ministry and other government offices, was formed as part of a Cabinet vote this week approving the withdrawal.\nAlthough no settlements are expected to be uprooted for months, the contentious vote prompted the leader of a nationalist party to resign from the Cabinet Tuesday, leaving Sharon with a fragile minority government.\nAn official in the prime minister's office said the meeting reflected Sharon's determination to push forward with his plan. "Despite the political problems, the work toward implementation will continue wholeheartedly," the official said.\nThe plan calls for the removal of all troops and Jewish settlements from Gaza, where there are 7,500 settlers and 1.3 million Palestinians. Four West Bank enclaves would also be closed.\nSharon says the evacuations are necessary to boost Israel's security in what he says is the absence of a serious Palestinian negotiating partner.\nInstead of relying on the Palestinians, Sharon has asked Egypt, which borders Gaza to the south, to help guarantee security in the volatile area once Israel pulls out.\nJordan, which borders the West Bank, has also shown some willingness to help. Last week, Jordan's foreign minister said his country, like Egypt, would consider training Palestinian police forces to take control of areas that Israel vacates.\nThe Palestinians have given only lukewarm support to the plan and have grown frustrated by Israel's efforts to cut them out of the process. They say they are capable of handling security in Gaza on their own, although they are working with Egypt to prepare for the Israeli withdrawal.\nOn Wednesday, a Palestinian official said that Yasser Arafat had asked Jordan for "clarifications" about a recent visit to the West Bank by Jordanian security officials accompanied by Israeli officials. Saher Habash, a central committee member of Arafat's Fatah faction, confirmed the contents of the letter.\nJordan's King Abdullah said last month that Arafat should have a "long look in the mirror" and decide whether he has been helping the Palestinian cause.\nIsraeli military sources confirmed Wednesday that a Jordanian commander had been in Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Jericho recently. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the visit was not related to the disengagement plan. Jordanian officials did not immediately comment.\nA vote in the Israeli Cabinet earlier this week agreed in principle to withdraw from Gaza and four small West Bank settlements in four stages by the end of 2005.\nIt was the first time an Israeli government has endorsed the idea of dismantling veteran settlements in the West Bank or Gaza.\nHowever, as the price for support from senior Likud ministers, Sharon agreed to have the Cabinet approve each stage of settlement removal.\nThis was not enough for Housing Minister Effie Eitam, leader of the pro-settler National Religious Party, who announced his resignation Tuesday.\n"This government and prime minister must be removed from power," Eitam said. A fellow party hard-liner, deputy minister Yitzhak Levy, also resigned.\nWith Eitam's exit, Sharon no longer commands a majority in parliament. He also faces significant opposition within his Likud Party.\nBut his opponents don't appear to have enough votes to bring him down. The opposition Labor Party has pledged to provide a "safety net" by abstaining in no-confidence votes against the prime minister.\nSharon is expected to court Labor to join his coalition, although that may not take place for several months. In the meantime, he says he is committed to pushing his withdrawal plan forward.\nIn Wednesday's meeting of the preparatory committee, government ministries were instructed to study the issue of compensating uprooted Israeli settlers and to look into places where they could be moved, participants said.\n"The ministries were asked to accelerate the pace of their work to implement the different aspects of the plan," the prime minister's office said. It said the committee would meet again at the end of the month.\nIn new violence, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a metal workshop late Tuesday, starting a fire and slightly wounding two people. The military said the target was a weapons factory used by the militant group Hamas.\nResidents said it was a repair shop for generators and motorcycles. Earlier Tuesday, Palestinians fired a rocket from Gaza at the nearby Israeli city of Sderot. Five people were treated for shock and two vehicles were damaged, the military said.\nIn the West Bank, Israeli troops fired tear gas at about 1,000 Palestinians demonstrating Wednesday against Israel's construction of a fence around the Jewish settlement of Ariel.\nA local resident, Abdullah Shinawi, said Israel is confiscating land in the area for the barrier, which is meant to prevent attacks on the settlement.\nThe army did not immediately comment on the protest but Israel's Army Radio said three Palestinians were injured, one seriously.\nIsrael is still considering whether to connect the Ariel fence, which lies deep inside the West Bank, to a larger separation barrier it is building. The barrier has drawn international and Palestinian criticism.