Military

DATE=06/06/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= ISRAEL-SHARON (LONG)

NUMBER=2-316506

BYLINE=ROSS DUNN

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Israeli Cabinet has approved in principle Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's modified disengagement plan from Palestinian areas. Mr. Sharon won the backing of the cabinet by a large majority by agreeing to remove any specific references to the evacuation of Jewish settlements. Ross Dunn reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: After a day of legal and political wrangling, Mr. Sharon's disengagement plan was approved by the cabinet by fourteen votes to seven.

Under the decision, the cabinet will have to vote again for the actual implementation of the plan, including the evacuation of Jewish settlements, by March 2005.

Israel's Justice Minister, Tommy Lapid, says he is reasonably confident that the plan will eventually be carried out in full. He also believes there is a chance that some parties in the opposition, including Labor, will join the government.

///LAPID ACT BEGINS///

I can assume one thing that the prime minister would not have gone to such trouble if he did not believe in the whole project. It (the government) may even be strengthened if the Labor Party joins it on the basis of this vote today, which is quite possible.

///END ACT///

Under the plan, Israel is to withdraw from most if not all of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

Mr. Sharon's Deputy Premier, Ehud Olmert, says the decision is one of the most significant ever made by an Israeli government.

///OLMERT ACT BEGINS///

It is an historic turning point in the policy of the state of Israel. This is certainly a change relative to anything we have done from 1967. It only proves how determined the prime minister is to seek every opportunity to relieve us and the Palestinians from some of the constraints with which have to deal.

///END ACT///

Shortly after the decision, Mr. Sharon gave his interpretation of what had been agreed upon. He said the cabinet had given its backing to evacuate all Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip and four from the West Bank by the end of next year. (Signed)

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