Haaretz
Nisan 29, 5765
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is leaning toward
sticking to his earlier decision to demolish the homes of the settlers who
will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip, according to cabinet
sources.
The sources said over the weekend that no convincing
reason had been given for leaving the houses intact, especially since the
Palestinian Authority also supports destroying them.
Sharon will
not discuss the issue at today's cabinet session. At the special debate
last week, Labor Party ministers, as well as Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
and Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra, supported leaving the buildings
standing.
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister
Tzipi Livni opposed changing the existing decision. Sharon refrained from
expressing an opinion, apart from saying that "in an ideal situation, the
houses would have been left standing." He promised to bring the issue to
another cabinet debate.
The decision to tear down the houses was
made a year ago, following Sharon's defeat in the poll among Likud
members. A demolition was intended to prevent Palestinians from "dancing
on the roofs" after the settlers' evacuation.
The decision was not
enough to satisfy Likud rebels, but helped Sharon obtain the support of
Netanyahu, Education Minister Limor Livnat and Foreign Minister Silvan
Shalom for the disengagement.
After the coalition reshuffle, Labor
ministers, headed by Vice Premier Shimon Peres, began pressuring Sharon to
change the decision. Sharon said that leaving the houses intact would be
conditional on an agreement to coordinate the disengagement with the
Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Sharon is delaying a final decision on a
date for the evacuation. A government source said yesterday that the date
would be set only after Independence Day.
Initially, the evacuation
was scheduled for July 25, a few days after the evacuation order signed by
Sharon and Mofaz comes into effect. However, before Pesach, Sharon
announced that he was leaning toward postponing the evacuation to August
15, after the Tisha B'av mourning day, and would announce his decision
after Pesach.
Sharon plans to hold a debate in the cabinet this
morning on the allocation of farm land to evacuees from the Gaza
Strip.
The cabinet will ask the National Planning and Construction
Council to begin drafting a master plan for new communities in the
Nitzanim area, for the Gush Katif evacuees. Sharon has decided to begin
work on the plan even if an insufficient number of Gush Katif residents
sign applications to move en bloc to Nitzanim.