ISRAEL: Israel's cabinet rejected yesterday a proposal to delay the start of a Gaza withdrawal for three months, setting the stage for a showdown between prime minister Ariel Sharon and his main political rival, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The attempt to force Mr Sharon to postpone the withdrawal due to begin in mid-August was a sharp reminder of the opposition he faces in his right-wing Likud party to the plan he has championed and a sign of internal leadership battles ahead.
Fears that ultranationalist opponents of the move out of Gaza might attack Israeli leaders also surfaced at the prime minister's office, where the Shin Bet security service fitted cabinet members for new bullet-proof vests before they convened.
The bulky Mr Sharon, who has quipped that no bullet-proof vest fits him, was also issued body armour, an Israeli source said, adding that threats on his life were likely to increase as the pull-out grows nearer.
At a stormy session, the cabinet voted 18-3 against Likud agriculture minister Yisrael Katz's proposed three-month delay.
Mr Netanyahu, a former prime minister who has long sought a political comeback, supported Mr Katz, who said more time was needed to complete pull-out preparations.
Opponents of the plan have questioned the readiness of Israeli forces.
Mr Sharon, with backing from his main coalition partner, Shimon Peres's Labour Party, had been widely expected to beat back Mr Katz's proposal before a parliamentary vote on the issue on Wednesday that seems certain to go the Israeli leader's way.
"Any delay is dangerous," a government official quoted Mr Sharon as telling the cabinet against the backdrop of confrontations last week between ultranationalists and soldiers who ejected them from a Gaza stronghold they had seized.
Ahead of the Knesset vote, a face-off was shaping up between Mr Sharon and Mr Netanyahu, who now holds the finance portfolio and who an aide said intends to show his disapproval of an August pull-out by staying away from Wednesday's legislative session.
Mr Sharon has signalled he could take Mr Netanyahu's absence as tantamount to voting in parliament against the government, grounds in Israel for firing a cabinet member.
But while flexing his muscles, Mr Sharon would divide the Likud more deeply by this move.
Mr Netanyahu, who reluctantly voted in parliament for the pull-out, has come under pressure from Jewish settler leaders to take a strong position against the first evacuation of settlements built on land Palestinians want for a future state.