Israel to vote on Gaza bill

2005-03-28 12:08

Jerusalem - Israel's parliament will on Monday vote on a bill calling for a referendum on the government's plans to pull out from the occupied Gaza Strip later this year.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - fiercely opposed to any question of holding a referendum in case it delays the withdrawal already approved by the cabinet and parliament - on Sunday urged ministers to vote against the bill.

The premier has accused right-wing opponents of the planned pullout, many of them from his own Likud party, of drawing up the bill as a tactic to delay if not torpedo the disengagement plan, scheduled to begin on July 20.

Left-wing coalition partner Labour has threatened to resign from the government if the referendum is passed, but the bill has zero chance of being approved with a majority of MPs in the 120-member Knesset opposed.

MPs from the ultra-Orthodox Shas are on track to vote against the bill despite their opposition to the pullout, with the party's spiritual mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef refusing to waver his anti-referenda principles.

- AFP