THE Israeli Government gave its final and overwhelming approval yesterday to Ariel Sharon’s historic plan to withdraw from all Jewish settlements in Gaza and four isolated communities in the West Bank.

Mr Sharon’s Cabinet voted 17 to 5 in favour of the pullout this summer — the first time in 38 years that Israel has dismantled settlements on land that the Palestinians want for their own state.

But in the same marathon meeting yesterday the Cabinet also approved a final route for the southern section of Israel’s controversial separation barrier that will take about 6 per cent of Palestinian West Bank land.

That is less than the 15 per cent originally proposed, but the barrier will loop around several large Jewish settlement blocks, including Maale Adumim and Gush Etzion, and leave up to 10,000 Palestinians on the Israeli side of the line.

The revision was necessary because Israel’s Supreme Court said the original path was disproportionately harmful to Palestinians. Israel says the wall is vital to stop suicide bombers, but the Palestinians call it a land grab.

The Gaza vote will fuel the anger of Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip, many of whom are already resorting to vicious and threatening tactics to stall the withdrawal.

Activists have failed to persuade Mr Sharon to back down through mass protests, including a blockade of roads with burning tyres that caught security forces off guard. Ministers have received death threats. Mr Sharon has even had to post guards at the grave of his late wife, Lily, who died of lung cancer in 2000, after settlers threatened to desecrate the site near his Negev ranch.

The activists are now pinning their hopes on a final political gambit to avoid serious civil strife this summer: that the Government will fall if the coming year’s budget fails to win the required majority in the Knesset by the end of next month.

A vote in favour is not assured and Mr Sharon has been assiduously but so far unsuccessfully seeking the support of his former coalition partner, the Shinui Party.

But yesterday’s withdrawal vote, where the most notable opponent was Binyamin Netanyahu, the Finance Minister, Mr Sharon’s arch political rival, keeps the plan to remove 8,500 settlers from Gaza and another 500 from West Bank settlements on track.

The Prime Minister and Shaul Mofaz, his Defence Minister, signed an order after the vote to enable the evacuation to begin on July 20.

Ministers undertook to meet again closer to the start date to review the climate surrounding the pullout. But it is expected to take place in four stages, with Gaza due to be cleared by the beginning of September and the West Bank withdrawal completed two weeks later.

Legislation to compensate the settlers, many of whom moved to Gaza at Mr Sharon’s behest, was approved last week. They will receive large payouts dependent on how long they have lived in Gaza, the size of their homes and families, and whether they have businesses.

Those who choose to relocate to sparsely populated areas such as the southern Negev desert, or Galilee in the north, will get extra payments. The whole package is likely to amount to between £111,000 and £166,000 per household.

Detailed plans have been drawn up by the security forces who, with the police and army, will forcibly evict settlers unwilling to leave. Civil police and border police units responsible for the evictions will be given special training in the weeks before the start of the process. Detention centres are to be set aside for those who resist, and new laws will allow the seizure of children with their parents.

Soldiers are to guard the outer perimeter while others clear settlements. Troops will also keep other settlers outside the area, which will be declared a “closed military zone”.

Bentzi Lieberman, a settlers’ leader, claims that he has 92,000 signatures from those who vow to go to Gaza as the evacuation date nears.

TERRITORIES STEEPED IN HISTORY

Around 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem

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