JERUSALEM, 12 October 2004 — Israel’s Ariel Sharon has rejected his army’s request to scale back its Gaza offensive, seeking to avoid any show of weakness after deadly bombings hit Egyptian resorts crowded with Israelis, security sources said. The prime minister decided a pullout from the besieged Jabalya refugee camp would encourage Palestinian militants to resume rocket fire into Israel and “send the wrong message” so soon after the Sinai bombings, a source said yesterday.
Sharon moved later to accelerate his plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip by announcing that a parliamentary vote on the controversial project would take place in two weeks. “I am going to submit my plan for debate and a vote in the Knesset in two weeks only, on Oct. 25,” Sharon told MPs on the opening day of the winter session of Parliament.
The announcement means MPs will give their verdict on his so-called disengagement plan just a day after a cabinet vote. Sharon had previously indicated he would put the issue to a vote in the 120-seat parliament on Nov. 3. The move represents a significant gamble by Sharon who lacks a majority in Parliament after traditional allies quit or were sacked from the coalition in June.
Sharon’s Gaza plan has been complicated by Palestinian rocket fire into border towns, which triggered Israel’s biggest offensive in the occupied strip in four years of conflict. Israel has killed 92 Palestinians since sending tanks into northern Gaza, including Jabalya, a militant stronghold, after a Hamas rocket attack killed two toddlers in southern Israel. Three Israelis have also died since the raid began.
Army chief Moshe Yaalon asked Sharon on Sunday for permission to redeploy outside Jabalya, saying the army had driven back rocket crews and the longer troops stayed in the densely populated camp the greater the risk, sources said.
Despite low-key US pressure to end the operation, Sharon ordered the army to press on, saying leaving Jabalya at this point could spur militants to resume the firing of makeshift Qassam missiles into the Jewish state. “He told the army to continue the operation at the same level,” a source said.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom later told Israel Radio the army had delivered a “serious blow to the infrastructure of the terrorist organizations” and that the offensive was in its final stages. But he gave no timetable for ending it.
The source said Sharon was also concerned a pullback so soon after Thursday’s bombings, which killed 32 people at Egyptian Red Sea resorts where throngs of Israelis were vacationing, would be seen as a sign of weakness. Israel has said it suspects the Al-Qaeda network in the Egypt attacks, but an Egyptian presidential spokesman on Saturday warned against rushing to conclusions.
Egyptian officials have tended to link the attacks to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though all major Palestinian militant groups have denied involvement.
In his address to parliament, Sharon also pledged his support for the floundering Middle East road map peace plan. “We are still committed toward the road map,” Sharon said as he also urged the Palestinians to “renounce terrorism”.
