JERUSALEM, 5 April 2004 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon clashed yesterday with hard-line ministers over his plan to withdraw from most of the Gaza Strip and some of the West Bank as Israeli security forces were placed on high alert ahead of the Passover holiday as troops shot dead a Palestinian and wounded seven others in the northern West Bank.
The pullback from Gaza has been condemned by right-wing nationalists in his Cabinet who have argued such a move will be interpreted as a “victory for terrorists”.
Tourism Minister Benny Elon of the National Union and Effi Eitam of the National Religious Party were reported to have slammed Sharon during the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday for trying to stifle debate on the issue.
Elon told Sharon, “You want to shut our mouths,” according to the Haaretz daily’s website.
Sharon reportedly replied, “Whoever feels ill at ease can get up and leave.”
Sharon plans to meet US President George W. Bush on April 14, after the Passover holiday, to seek his endorsement for the withdrawal that Palestinians welcome but want to see carried out through negotiations.
In Gaza, former Palestinian security chief Mohammad Dahlan said chaos could ensue in Gaza if the Palestinian Authority failed to prepare for an Israeli pullout.
The Israeli government, meanwhile, kept up its campaign of intimidation against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, accusing him of being a bigger obstacle to peace than assassinated Hamas chief Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Israeli Health Minister Danny Naveh sought to ratchet up the pressure on Arafat yesterday, declaring him a “more serious obstacle” to peace than Sheikh Yassin.
The minister, a member of Sharon’s Likud party, also made a new call for Arafat’s expulsion from his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where he has been effectively confined to house arrest for more than two years.
Security was being especially tightened around Jewish settlements in the West Bank after the killing of a Jewish resident of the northern West Bank settlement of Avnei Hefetz early Saturday.
A Palestinian was killed in the camp yesterday as scores of people gathered to pay their condolences to a slain Palestinian.
Among the other seven injured when troops opened fire on a car was a senior Hamas commander, Khaled Khreweish, who was first taken to hospital in Tulkarm but then detained by Israeli forces, medics said.
An Israeli military source said troops on routine duties in the area opened fire at the car, which had driven at speed toward them.
Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, both claimed responsibility for a shooting attack by another northern West Bank settlement that saw a soldier lightly wounded.
