Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon plans to ask the cabinet to approve the evacuation of settlements under the disengagement plan in December, a government source said Monday.
Sharon will request cabinet approval after the Knesset passes a law to enable evacuated settlers to be compensated.
First step, Sharon plans to present the timetable for approving the disengagement to the Likud Knesset faction on Tuesday.
On September 15, the cabinet will be called to approve the principles of compensation, as well as the payment of advances to settlers who wish to leave early.
Early October, cabinet will be asked to approve the evacuation law.
If approved, it will be submitted to the Knesset for first reading approval. Knesset could take about two months to finish enacting the bill.
The Israel Defense establishment is expected to complete operational pullout planning in September.
The Security cabinet approved Monday Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz’s proposal that the IDF have overall responsibility for implementing the plan, but that the police be responsible for physically evacuating the settlers.
Yet, Israeli justice minister Yousif Lapid opposed involving border police in the evacuation process, “can’t allow Druze to evacuate Jews†he said.
Even as most ministers agreed, the cabinet did not decide to rule out the involvement of border police in the evacuation process.
Mofaz’s second proposal calling for carrying out all evacuations at once in order to minimize exposure to Palestinian attacks, created uproar in the cabinet.
Few ministers protested that the proposal was contrary to the cabinet June 6 decision, which calls for a four stages withdrawal schedule, where each stage needs a separate approval.
‘I decided, and that is how it will be. We can evacuate in four stages – on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.’ Sharon angrily responded.
Finally a compromise was reached in which Mofaz’s proposal was approved, but with emphasis that all decisions on the disengagement will be subject to the June 6 cabinet decision.
