By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Feb 20, 2005
Israel’s cabinet Sunday voted 17-5 in favor of forcibly transferring the Jewish residents of the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria under the Expulsion and Implementation Law.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said surrendering those hard-won parts of the Jews’ ancient homeland was a “difficult step for the settlers, for the citizens of Israel and for me," but that it was also “an essential move for the future of our country.”
Following the cabinet vote, Sharon signed an expulsion order making it illegal for any Jewish civilians to remain in Gaza and northern Samaria after July 20, 2005.
The government will begin the forced evacuation of all Jews remaining in these areas one day later.
According to the plan submitted to the government by the IDF, the evacuation will take eight weeks and involve enough soldiers and police officers to give the security forces a four-to-one ratio over the settlers.
Sharon’s efforts to uproot Jews from parts of their biblical patrimony may still come to naught if his government is unable to gain Knesset approval for the 2005 national budget by March 31.
In the absence of an approved budget, Sharon’s government will by law fall on April 1, taking his “essential” surrender to Arab demands along with it. New elections would then be held at the first of July.