Thursday, June 09, 2005 14:49 IST
JNW HEADLINE NEWSSharon ups battle against retreat opponents
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial StaffJune 8th, 2005
Amid decreasing public support for his “disengagement” plan, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Wednesday lashed out at those opposed to forcibly expelling thousands of Jews from their homes and surrendering more territory to the PLO.
A poll released Wednesday by IBA News showed support among Israelis for the pullout plan had dropped to 50 percent, while opposition had risen to 40 percent.
A similar poll conducted by Israel's Ma'ariv daily newspaper a week earlier produced identical results.
Reacting to the numbers, Sharon accused political figures leading the charge against retreat of “reckless incitement” against his government.
The prime minister was speaking at the first meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Disengagement, to which the local press was invited.
Likud “rebel” leader MK Uzi Landau responded by telling Sharon to “stop whining.”
Sharon also sought to discredit what he called settler “disinformation” claiming his government was trying to conceal the fact it was unprepared to accommodate the thousands of Jews it plans to uproot.
That “disinformation,” however, was backed up in a recent letter from National Security Advisor Giora Eiland to government officials, Voice of Israel Radio reported Tuesday.
Eiland said the government looked largely unprepared to actually implement the evacuation of some 10,000 Jewish settlers, and cautioned officials that “a failure to tie up loose ends is likely to create chaos.”
Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz, meanwhile, was doing its part to quell opposition to Sharon's policies.
A senior official in Mazuz's office suggested the state begin proceedings to revoke parents' custody of their teenage children if they are permitted to participate in blocking roads to protest Sharon's plan.
Nearly 100 right-wing teens were arrested and jailed more than two weeks ago for taking part in a nationwide road-blocking demonstration. Some 20 remain imprisoned because they refuse to sign release papers forbidding them to participate in future protests.
State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan wants them declared “neglected children,” and handed over to social service agencies.
Last week, the judicial system denied several of the jailed teens the right to take their final high school exams, despite the fact numerous convicted “Palestinian” terrorists were allowed to take the tests from their prison cells.
Observers also noted that earlier this week, disgruntled employees of Israel Military Industries disrupted traffic on a major highway using army tanks, but were not arrested, jailed or otherwise punished.
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