Cabinet Agrees to Evict Settlers

Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday approved removing Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank and decided a separation barrier in the West Bank should enclose two large settlement blocs.

The decisions appeared aimed at shaping future Israeli-Palestinian borders, and carried plenty of historical significance: It was the first time Israel had ordered the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank from land captured during the 1967 Middle East War.

The decision allows the government to send eviction notices to about 8,500 Jewish settlers who are to be removed from 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four tiny communities in the northern West Bank.

Seventeen of 22 ministers voted in favor of the withdrawal.

Hours after the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz signed orders giving residents five months to leave.

“It isn’t an easy day. It isn’t a happy day,” Sharon, who has championed the plan, said before the Cabinet session. Sharon said in a speech late Sunday that the withdrawal decision was his “most difficult” in a career as a military and a political leader that has spanned more than five decades.

Israel abandoned more than a dozen settlements in 1982 under terms of its peace treaty with Egypt, but those were in the Sinai Peninsula.

“There is no cause for dismissing the importance of the moment: A new chapter in the history of the Middle East is going to be written,” journalist Shimon Shiffer wrote Sunday in the daily Yediot Aharonot newspaper before the Cabinet meeting.

Holding Cabinet votes on the withdrawal and the barrier route on the same day offered glimpses into Sharon’s strategy. He has argued for evacuating hard-to-defend settlements in Gaza and focusing instead on solidifying Israel’s grip on major Jewish population centers in the West Bank.

Analysts said the timing of the two votes also appeared aimed at blunting international criticism over the barrier, which as approved will dip into the West Bank far enough to encompass two big settlement blocs that are home to an estimated 85,000 people.

Under the route approved Sunday, the barrier would enclose the suburban city of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and a large cluster of settlements south of Jerusalem called Gush Etzion.

The phased pullout is scheduled to begin in five months, starting July 20. The Cabinet is required to assess conditions on the ground and vote on each stage of the planned four-part withdrawal. But officials said the decision to evacuate had now been made.

Supporters of the pullout said they hoped that the Cabinet vote would prompt holdout settlers to prepare to leave voluntarily. Israeli officials are keen to reduce the prospect of violent removals by getting residents to leave on their own.

“Now it’s up to all of us, all of us and not just the government -- also the opponents -- to show restraint, patience and tolerance,” said Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The Cabinet vote is one of the last major governmental hurdles for Sharon’s plan. Last week, the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, approved legislation to compensate settlers for their homes.

But Sharon must pass a 2005 budget by March 31 to avoid early elections, which would be likely to disrupt the pullout. So far, the prime minister lacks enough votes for his proposed spending plan.

Sharon’s nemesis, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voted against the withdrawal, saying he wanted the matter put to a referendum. But Sharon has said that would delay or scuttle the pullout.

Netanyahu, whose core supporters are conservatives most opposed to the evacuation, has sent conflicting signals for months. At some points, Netanyahu voted for the plan. But at others, he appeared ready to put his job on the line to try to force a referendum vote, only to relent. His vote Sunday was seen by many as a way to solidify his hold on the right for a possible future challenge to Sharon for leadership of their Likud Party.

Settlers, who revered Sharon as the patron of their movement, found little to celebrate. Leaders reiterated calls for civil disobedience, saying the Gaza evacuation lacked legitimacy because it was not put to a referendum.

“Those who voted to approve the transfer will be remembered as destroyers just like previous destroyers,” the main settler group, the Yesha Council, said in a statement. “Sharon’s government has turned into a leftist government whose goal is to erase the Jewish settlements.”

Palestinian officials, meanwhile, said Israel’s decision to continue building its barrier in the West Bank harmed nascent peace steps by drawing de facto borders. Palestinians have argued that the barrier amounts to a land grab and prejudges borders before a comprehensive agreement can be struck.

“Any construction in the occupied territories is contrary to attempts to revive the peace process,” said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.

Military planners revised the barrier’s route to comply with a decision by Israel’s Supreme Court in June that found portions in the West Bank violated Palestinian rights.

The section approved Sunday was shifted closer to Israel proper, thus taking a smaller bite out of the West Bank than previously envisioned. The barrier would envelop 7% to 8% of the West Bank area envisioned by Palestinians for a future state, about half the amount called for under previous Israeli plans. Under the new route, about 10,000 Palestinians would remain on the Israeli side of the divider.

Israel maintains that the 400-mile-plus partition -- a mixture of fences, concrete walls, trenches, patrol roads and surveillance equipment -- is needed to keep out suicide bombers and other would-be attackers. Officials say assaults have plummeted in areas where the barrier is complete. The project is about one-third done.

Israel says parts of the barrier can later be removed if they intrude across borders determined through negotiations with the Palestinians.

Israel expects to retain major settlement blocs in any negotiated agreement, a position endorsed last year by President Bush. In backing the Gaza withdrawal, Bush said “realities on the ground” made it unrealistic to expect Israel to give up all of the West Bank.

The barrier was found illegal last year by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which ruled that it hindered Palestinians’ freedom of movement and was tantamount to annexation by Israel.

But Israeli officials have dismissed the nonbinding decision as politically motivated and said the court lacked jurisdiction.

In other developments, Jordan returned its ambassador to Israel for the first time since the outbreak of violence between the Israelis and Palestinians in September 2000.

Jordan’s decision to name Marouf Bakhit as ambassador is the latest sign of warming relations between Israel and some Arab neighbors since Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in November.

Egypt on Sunday night requested approval of its ambassador-designate, Mohammed Assem. Israeli officials said he was expected to arrive soon.