By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Jun 02, 2004
By December 2005, not one Jew will remain in that area of Israel’s biblical patrimony today known as the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Wednesday.
Following the committee hearing, Sharon told reporters there was no doubt his plan to uproot Israeli Jews from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria would pass Sunday’s cabinet vote.
His aides later qualified the statement on Army Radio, saying Sharon intends to have full approval for a mass Israeli evacuation of these areas in place by December 2005, but that implementation of the plan would take place at a later date.
Sharon also revealed Wednesday for the first time that his full “disengagement” plan would include a Jordanian presence in Judea and Samaria.
According to recent reports, Sharon also intends to allow Egyptian forces into the Gaza Strip following Israel’s withdrawal.
Committee panel member Aryeh Eldad of the National Union Party said he knew Sharon had betrayed the settlement movement, but “I didn't know that he intended to abandon Judea, Samaria and Gaza to an Arab presence.”
Those areas were repeatedly used as jumping off points for Jordanian and Egyptian attacks on Israel prior to their liberation in 1967.