first time to evacuate thousands of settlers from lands the Palestinians claim for a state.
With 67 votes for and 45 against and seven abstentions, the Knesset agreed to withdraw more than 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza and four West Bank areas
There were some tense moments when five cabinet ministers walked out before their names could be called for the vote on the withdrawal plan of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Only when the members were polled a second time did the five, led by Finance Minister Benyamin Netanyahu cast their votes in favor of the plan.
But the ministers said they would resign from their posts if Sharon "does not hold a national referendum on the disengagement plan within 14 days", the Voice of America (VOA) reported.
However human rights groups and diplomats have suggested that the withdrawal will leave behind a wide trail of destruction. Since Sunday 16 Palestinians died and close to 100 others were injured in an Israeli military raid on the Khan Younis refugee, several officials and news reports said.
KASSAM ROCKETS
The Israeli military defended the military operations saying it "will be wherever Kassam rockets and mortar shells are fired from. Our aim is to enter deep into Palestinian territory in order to clamp down on the terrorists." Analysts also say Sharon wants to ensure that militants will not claim next year’s withdrawal as a victory.
Israeli troops reportedly ended their siege on the Gaza refugee camp earlier Tuesday, October 26.
A long defender of the settler movement, Sharon’s withdrawal plan marks a break with his past. He won approval with the help of several opposition parties, while several members of his center-right coalition, as well as religious opposition factions voted against the measure.
SUPPORTING WITHDRAWAL
Labor Party leader Simon Peres, who supports the withdrawal, said earlier that the prime minister had taken risks, and warned that right wing extremists may even try to assassinate Sharon.
The atmosphere in Israel was similar to the political turmoil of 1995 when the then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was murdered by a religious nationalist, he said.
In Washington, the United States State Department called Sharon’s withdrawal plan a "real opportunity for progress" toward peace in the Middle East.
State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the Israeli prime minister’s plan to pull out of many Palestinian towns "presents an opportunity to advance the interests of both sides."
The Bush administration hopes the withdrawal makes way for a Palestinian state on the land Israel gives up.
"The train has left the station, the implementation (of the peace agreement) is under way," government spokesman Raanan Gissin told reporters earlier. "After the Knesset vote on Tuesday we will be in an irreversible process," he said.
