Israeli CP denounces Sharon's Gaza plan

Mark Almberg

On the same day that the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, voted 
67-45 to support Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for 
"disengagement" from the Gaza Strip, the leader of the Communist 
Party of Israel (CPI) denounced the plan as a manoeuvre to block 
and "bury the very idea" of an independent Palestinian state.

Issam Makhoul, CPI General Secretary, said the October 26 vote 
authorises a plan that, if implemented, "will turn all of the 
Gaza Strip into one big prison camp, dominated on all sides from 
the air, sea and land by the Israeli army". Instead of ending the 
37-year occupation, the plan will allow Israel to intervene in 
Gaza anytime it likes and simultaneously "disclaim any 
responsibility as the occupying power for the daily conditions of 
life Palestinians in Gaza living under Israeli occupation".

At the same time, Makhoul said, the plan will give Sharon the 
means to tighten Israel's grip on the occupied West Bank, 
facilitate the creation of apartheid-like "bantustans" for 
Palestinians, win international support for the occupation, and 
even win approval of parts of the Israeli peace camp for his 
policies.

Sharon proposes to close 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza and 
evacuate 8200 Jewish settlers in the summer of 2005. Settler 
families are to be compensated with packages ranging from 
US$100,000 to US$500,000 each. About 1.3 million Palestinians 
live in the Gaza Strip under conditions of extreme poverty.

Four small Jewish settlements, comprising a few hundred settlers, 
are also to be dismantled in the northern West Bank, although 
240,000 Jewish settlers will remain there. The West Bank is a 
much larger and resource-rich territory.

The Knesset vote was preceded by 17 hours of acrimonious debate 
over the plan, with ultranationalists, the religious right, and 
nearly half of Sharon's own Likud Party ultimately voting against 
it. Some accused Sharon of being a traitor for offering to "give 
up" even one inch of land.

Ironically, Sharon drew decisive support from his traditional 
opponents — the Labour Party and the more dovish parties, which 
cited the closing of any Gaza settlements as a positive 
development. Some peace activists shared this view.

For example, Gush Shalom, a predominantly Jewish peace group, 
called the Knesset vote "a great victory for the peace camp" and 
as a rejection of "the ideology of the settlers". It called for 
holding Sharon to his promise about carrying out the withdrawal.

The parliamentary deputies of the Democratic Front from Peace and 
Equality, Hadash-Ta'al, which includes the CPI, decided to 
abstain rather than vote against Sharon's plan. While they 
restated their opposition to the plan, they said they did not 
want to risk contributing to a right-wing parliamentary victory. 

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People's Weekly World