Sharansky quits over Gaza

2005-05-02 09:47

Jerusalem - Israeli minister Nathan Sharansky resigned in protest on Monday at Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip, becoming the sixth minister to leave the government over the withdrawal.

A former Soviet dissident and much admired by US President George W Bush for his writings on foreign policy, Sharansky had been minister without portfolio.

All 8 000 Israeli settlers are due to be pulled out of Gaza during an operation starting in either July or August. Several hundred residents of four small settlements in the northern West Bank are also due to be uprooted.

His spokesperson said Sharansky had "opposed the disengagement plan from the beginning on the grounds that he believes any concessions in the peace process should be linked to Palestinian reform".

Sharansky believes the pullout "weakens prospects for building a free Palestinian society" and exacerbates "terrorism", she added.

He tendered his letter of resignation to Sharon's office on Monday ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting.

Not a member of parliament, Sharansky is the sixth minister to either resign or be sacked in the last year over the premier's so-called disengagement plan.

He was jailed in Russia 1978 after being convicted of spying for the United States. He was freed in 1986 in a US-Soviet spy exchange.

Although a somewhat marginal figure in Israeli politics, Sharansky has had a marked influence on Bush.

Earlier this year, Bush used a Washington Times interviewer to tell "opinion makers" that he wanted to put Sharanksy's book, The Case for Democracy, on their recommended reading list.

"If you want a glimpse of how I think about foreign policy read Natan Sharansky's book, The Case for Democracy," Bush said. "It's a great book."

Last week, he spent three days during the Jewish festival of Passover in Atzmona, one of the Jewish settlements to be dismantled, as a sign of his solidarity with the protest against disengagement.

During Passover, tens of thousands of Israelis took part in one of the largest gatherings in the Gaza Strip to protest the planned pullout of troops and settlers from the territory.

Seen as the most trenchant minister against the controversial withdrawal that was still in cabinet, Sharansky was a figurehead for the ultra-right and nationalist religious groups.

During his political career in Israel, he served successively as housing, interior and trade and industry minister.

- AFP