MIDDLE EAST: The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, faced-off sceptical ministers in his ruling Likud party yesterday in a bid to persuade them to back his plan to pull out of most, if not all, of Gaza.
Israel launched another raid into the Strip, killing five Palestinians, including a leading militant and his wife.
Mr Sharon was trying to sell his disengagement plan, that would include the dismantling of most settlements in Gaza and several in the West Bank, to his Likud cabinet colleagues. With two of the far-right parties in his government strongly opposed to any withdrawal from the West Bank or Gaza, the Israeli leader needs the backing of Likud ministers if he is to get his plan approved.
Many in the Likud, however, are critical of the idea of a pull-out from Gaza, without any agreement, on the grounds that such a move would be perceived by the Palestinians as a victory and lead to an escalation in armed attacks. "You can't support something like this, such an awful, dangerous plan," said Mr Uzi Landau, a hardline Likud minister. But Finance Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, a potential challenger to Mr Sharon in the party and who was expected to lead opposition to the plan, expressed qualified support for it.
If the US supported a rejection of the Palestinian demand for the right of return for refugees, he said at yesterday's meeting, he would back the plan. "Now that the train has already left the station, there is no choice but to support the prime minister and present him with demands and conditions [for the withdrawal]," Mr Netanyahu told the ministers.
Mr Sharon is keen to be seen to have backing for his plan before he heads off to Washington for a meeting with President Bush, which is expected to take place later this month or early next month.
Israeli troops entered the town of Abassan, south of Gaza City, early yesterday morning and surrounded the home of local militant leader Bassem Kadeh (23). Troops said they saw two figures trying to escape from the house and opened fire, setting off a big blast.
It later emerged that Mr Kadeh had been carrying an explosive device and that he and his wife were the two fleeing figures. Both were killed in the blast, the army said. Three more Hamas militants were killed in gun battles with troops.
Meanwhile, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia associated with Mr Yasser Arafat's ruling Fatah party, on Saturday issued a rare apology after it emerged that a 20-year-old man shot dead in a drive-by attack on Friday evening, while he was jogging in Jerusalem, was a Christian Arab.
The man, Mr George Khoury, was the son of a veteran lawyer, Mr Elias Khoury, who works in East Jerusalem and represents a number of senior figures in the Palestinian Authority.