Israeli cabinet rejects call to delay Gaza pullout

The Israeli cabinet on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal by Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz to delay a planned pullout from the Gaza Strip until November.

Eighteen ministers voted against the proposal, while only three -- Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Danny Naveh and Katz himself -- voted in favor.

The disengagement plan, which demands a complete withdrawal from all Gaza Strip Jewish settlements and four smaller ones in northern West Bank, was once postponed from late July to mid-August.

Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said before a cabinet meeting that should the government decide to postpone the disengagement, the Labor would leave the coalition.

For his part, Netanyahu said that he would "vote according to his beliefs."

Netanyahu announced earlier that he planned to vote in favor of postponing the disengagement at Sunday's cabinet meeting, and would skip Wednesday's Knesset (parliament) vote on the proposal in order to avoid voting against it.

The announcement raised simmering tension between Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to a boil.

Sharon's Office reacted furiously to the announcement. Members of Sharon's Office said that under Article 11 of the 1949 Transition Law, a minister who either votes against the government or "misses the vote" will be considered to have resigned, unless the prime minister decides otherwise.

"The law on this matter is clear," said one official.

But Netanyahu's associates insisted that the law not obligate a minister who skips a vote to resign.

"Ministers are often absent from votes, it happens every day," said one. "The Transition Law is no longer valid, because the Basic Law on Government has changed."

However, Netanyahu was apparently be alone on this issue. His occasional allies, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Education Minister Limor Livnat, are expected to vote with Sharon in both the cabinet and the Knesset.

Source: Xinhua