MIDDLE EAST: The Israeli parliament yesterday voted overwhelmingly against a Bill calling for a national referendum on Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza, essentially removing the last major parliamentary obstacle to implementation of the prime minister's plan.
The 72-39 vote in the 120-seat parliament killed off efforts by right-wing politicians to torpedo a Gaza pull-out, and sparked warnings of civil war from Jewish settlers.
Mr Sharon, whose plan calls for the evacuation of 7,000 settlers in 21 settlements in Gaza, as well as the evacuation of four settlements in the northern West Bank, had vehemently opposed a referendum, viewing it as an attempt to delay and even derail a withdrawal.
Opponents of the plan, including at least one-third of Mr Sharon's ruling Likud party, tried until yesterday morning to convince the 11-man ultra-Orthodox Shas party to reverse its opposition to a national plebiscite in the hope that this would turn the anti-referendum tide in parliament.
But the party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, refused to back the Bill, fearing that the country's secular parties might begin demanding that a referendum be held on issues of religion and state as well.
The prime minister also had the support yesterday of left-wing opposition parties, who have supported the plan from the beginning.
Vice-premier Ehud Olmert, a close ally of the prime minister, described the vote as a "dramatic statement of the Israeli parliament that disengagement is going to be carried out as planned".
But the vote exposed the deep divisions within the Likud party over the prime minister's plan - 13 of the 40 Likud members voted against a referendum.
The final parliamentary hurdle facing Mr Sharon is the vote on the 2005 state budget. This must be passed by Thursday, otherwise the country will automatically go to elections. However, with the opposition Shinui party announcing over the weekend that it will back the budget so as not to allow opponents of the Gaza withdrawal plan to topple the government by voting against the spending plan, the prime minister is assured of a majority.
With the referendum Bill buried, the battle will now move from parliament to the streets, where the settlers have already begun waging a campaign to block the pull-out. Thousands demonstrated outside parliament yesterday. Some recited psalms, while others held aloft placards.
The settler council released a statement yesterday saying that the government had missed an opportunity to "prevent a violent confrontation and civil war" and that it was moving its battle "to the people". Opponents of the withdrawal have said that tens of thousands of people will flood Gaza in an attempt to thwart the pull-out, which is scheduled to begin in late July.