Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
Cheshvan 12, 5765
The Knesset on Tuesday
evening approved Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan by a
majority of 67-45. Seven MKs abstained in the vote, while one MK, Yehudit
Naot, was absent due to illness.
Education Minister Limor Livnat
and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially threatened to abstain in
the vote after the ministers managed to secure a deal with the National
Religious Party under which the party will not quit the coalition
government if a referendum on the pullout plan is held.
Livnat and
Netanyahu, along with ministers Yisrael Katz and Dan Naveh, were all
absent from the first round of voting. They walked into the plenum as the
initial results were being read. They were then given the opportunity to
vote on the plan, and they all voted in favor of the
withdrawal.
Ministers Silvan Shalom and Tzachi Hanegbi also voted
in favor of the plan.
Minutes after the vote, Netanyahu and Livnat
announced that they will quit the government, as will ministers Katz and
Naveh, if Sharon does not decide to hold a national referendum on the plan
within the next 14 days.
The National Religious Party has also
given the prime minister 14 days to decide on a national poll. The party
promises to remain in the government if the poll is called, whatever the
results.
Sharon fires Landau and Ratzon
Sharon fired
Minister Without Portfolio Uzi Landau and Deputy Minister Michael Ratzon
for voting against his disengagement plan.
Sharon called Ratzon
into his chambers a short time after the vote, and handed him a letter of
dismissal.
Sharon handed Landau a similar letter a short time
later.
Landau has consistently voiced his opposition to the
disengagement plan and is seen as the leader of the "rebel" camp in the
Likud.
17 Likud MKs vote against plan
Twenty-three Likud
MKs voted in favor of the plan, while 17 voted against it. A total of 21
Labor and One Nation MKs voted in favor, as did 14 Shinui MKs, six Yahad
MKs, two United Arab List members and one National Union MK (Michael
Nuddelman).
All eleven Shas MKs voted against the plan, on the
orders of the party's spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, as did six
National Religious Party members, six National Union MKs and five United
Torah Judaism Mks. Three Hadash MKs and three Balad MKs abstained, as did
one One Nation MK.
Labor faction chief MK Dalia Itzik said after
the vote that this was a "great day" for Israel.
Shinui leader
Yosef Lapid said the final voting result constituted a great victory for
Sharon.