Sharon: No pullout under fire
The Jerusalem Post  | 27 December 2004 | NINA GILBERT
 

Dec. 27, 2004 13:46 | Updated Dec. 27, 2004 15:10
Sharon: No pullout under fire
By NINA GILBERT
 

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared Monday that Israel would not carry out disengagement under fire and promised that the army would respond with severity to continued attacks on Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip.

During a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday, committee members lambasted the prime minister for his government's failure to effectively combat persistent mortar shell fire from Palestinian towns in the Gaza Strip.

Representatives of the Right accused Sharon of tying the army's hands and preventing them from properly defending Gush Katif residents for political reasons.

A furious Sharon deplored the accusations as "malicious lies." The IDF has a free hand and has been instructed to act against mortar shell fire with any means possible, Israel Radio quoted Sharon.

If the attacks continue during pullout, the army will respond harshly, he stressed. Sharon added that he has given the Palestinian Authority fair warning to maintain quiet as Gaza settlements are evacuated as part of the disengagement plan.

"We have made it singularly clear to the Palestinians that if the situation continues, disengagement will stop and we will not progress to the road map peace plan," NRG quoted the prime minister.

Speaking for the army, OC Operations Brig.-Gen. Gadi Shamni noted that a variety of response methods are available to Israel, including - at the most extreme - a full occupation of the Gaza Strip.
 

Sharon to seek Cabinet approval of pullout months ahead of schedule
 

During the meeting, Sharon also told the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee the he will ask the Cabinet to give final approval to the Gaza withdrawal plan by February, several months ahead of schedule, committee chairman Yuval Steinitz told the Associated Press.

Sharon said that at the recommendation of Attorney General Menahem Mazuz, he is holding the vote earlier than initially planned. Mazuz has said the government should announce its withdrawal schedule at least six months before the pullout, Steinitz said. The pullout is scheduled to begin in July and be completed within three months.

Steinitz quoted Sharon as saying all necessary Cabinet votes would be taken by February, well ahead of the original June deadline.

The vote would not change the withdrawal schedule itself. But earlier this month, Sharon adviser Asaf Shariv said the Cabinet vote schedule might be accelerated to allow for legal challenges and practical preparations.

Officials in Sharon's office weren't immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, as the committee argued over how to respond to the unrelenting rain of mortars, two more mortar shells hit a Jewish settlement in Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip. No one was wounded and no damage was caused in the attack.

Just a few days ago, several hundred Gaza Strip settlers fed up with the daily barrage of mortar shells into their communities marched on the Defense Ministry demanding that the IDF do more to eliminate the attacks.

Blocking off traffic on Rehov Kaplan opposite the Defense Ministry, settlers banged a trash can 5,000 times to symbolize the number of mortar shells fired at Gush Katif in recent years.

"Mofaz needs to get a taste of what 5,000 mortar shells sound like," said Eran Sternberg, spokesman for the Gaza Strip Regional Council.
 

With Yaakov Katz and AP