Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took another step today towards implementing his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip by opening an office to arrange compensation for evacuated settlers.
Mr Sharon's office announced that the "Administration for Assistance to Gaza Strip Residents" had already begun discussions with settlers.
Setting up the bureau came despite the blow dealt to Mr Sharon last week by pro-settler rebels in his right-wing Likud party, who voted down a proposed coalition with the centre-left Labour party that could have smoothed the way for the Gaza plan.
Mr Sharon's US-backed initiative foresees the removal of all 8,000 Jewish settlers in Gaza and several hundred of more than 230,000 in the West Bank by the end of next year. Officials have said families could get $300,000 each in compensation.
Mr Sharon's office said the new government body would conduct "all the necessary actions for prepayments and compensation for residents of the Gaza Strip and the northern (West Bank)."
But many of the settlers in Gaza plan to resist any attempt to move them, saying that the territory is a historic part of the Jewish homeland and to give it up would "reward Palestinian terrorism."