Resignation weakens Sharon's coalition
JERUSALEM -- The leader of a prosettler party resigned from Israel's Cabinet on yesterday, dealing a further blow to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's shaky ruling coalition after the approval of his Gaza withdrawal plan.
With the exit of Housing Minister Effie Eitam, leader of the National Religious Party, or NRP, Sharon no longer commands a majority in parliament, but his opponents don't appear to have enough votes to bring him down.
Sharon was expected to court the opposition Labor party, a former coalition partner and more comfortable ally for his plan to withdraw soldiers and 7,500 settlers from Gaza by the end of 2005. The prime minister said he is determined to forge ahead, despite stiff opposition from hardliners, including leading members of his Likud party.
Last week, Sharon fired two Cabinet ministers from the prosettler National Union, one of three coalition partners, to assure a majority for the Gaza plan.
On Sunday, the Cabinet agreed in principle to withdraw from Gaza and four small West Bank settlements in four stages by the end of 2005. It was the first time Israel has endorsed the idea of dismantling veteran settlements in the West Bank or Gaza.
But to win support from senior Likud ministers, Sharon agreed to have the Cabinet approve each stage of settlement removal.
This was not enough for Eitam, a fiery former general who took control of the NRP last year and rejected all territorial compromise with the Palestinians.
"This government and prime minister must be removed from power," Eitam told a news conference after submitting his resignation yesterday. A fellow party hard-liner, deputy minister Yitzhak Levy, also resigned.
Eitam said he believed a withdrawal "will lead to creation of a Hamas terrorist state in Gaza."
Meanwhile, Palestinians fired a rocket from Gaza at the nearby Israeli city of Sderot early yesterday. Five Israelis were treated for shock, the military said, and two vehicles were damaged.
Late last night, Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at a metal workshop next to an office building in Gaza City, sparking a fire and wounding two people, residents said. They said the target was a workshop alongside a Hamas office at the entrance to the Shati refugee camp. The two people were treated at the camp clinic for minor injuries.
The Israeli military said the target was "a factory used by the Hamas to house arms and ammunition that Hamas used to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians."
Also yesterday, Yasser Arafat's security adviser, Jibril Rajoub, said Palestinian police could handle security in Gaza. "If Israel withdraws from Gaza or any other part of Palestinian territory, I am prepared to pledge there will be law and order and there will be nothing that will worry or disturb [anyone]," he told Israel TV.
Eitam and Levy said they would join the opposition. The remaining four NRP legislators have not yet decided, but at least two indicated they would stay to try to scuttle the dismantling of settlements.
Sharon's Likud and his main partner, the centrist Shinui Party, have 55 seats in the 120-member parliament. The resignations of Eitam and Levy leave the coalition with only 59 members.
However, Labor has pledged to give Sharon a "safety net" by abstaining in no-confidence votes against him, as it did in a motion Monday.
