Sharon fires two cabinet ministers
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fired two hardline ministers today, paving the way for his Gaza pullout plan, but also triggering a possible political crisis.
Sharon sent dismissal notices to the two ministers of the hardline National Union Party, Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Elon, after they failed to answer a summons to his office.
They would take effect in 48 hours, before the crucial Cabinet session on Sunday.
“According to the protocols of the law I have decided to relieve you of your post, as is my right as prime minister,” the terse letters said.
“I am proud to be fired by the Prime Minister who is taking this unprecedented step of firing a minister because…he does not agree with him,” Lieberman told Israel Radio.
For Sharon the decision to fire the ministers represents the final stages of his decision to break from the far right and from his legacy.
Sharon pledged to bring his pullout plan to a Cabinet vote on Sunday, even though he has no guarantee it will pass, and even though a victory could lead to the dissolution of his coalition government.
At the moment, 12 Cabinet ministers oppose the plan and 11 support it. Sharon would create a one-vote majority by firing Lieberman and Elon.
Another pro-settler faction, the National Religious Party, has threatened to quit if Sharon dismissed the National Union.
NRP leader Effie Eitam rejected Sharon’s concept of removing settlements “a terrible, immoral, bitter thing”.
Hawkish members of Sharon’s Likud Party would be uncomfortable to the point of rebellion, further endangering the continuation of Sharon’s government and raising the prospect of a snap election within months.
Throughout yesterday, Cabinet ministers tried to work out a compromise to prevent a coalition crisis, but Sharon was adamant.
“I intend to honour my commitment to bring the decision to the Cabinet this Sunday,” he said.
Sharon’s proposal is a pullout from all of Gaza and four small settlements in the West Bank over four stages by the end of next year.
Sharon, up to now the main mover behind settlement construction, has said there is no future for 7,500 Jewish settlers among 1.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Sharon does not hide his underlying goal – to trade the 21 small Gaza settlements for control of the main settlement blocs in the West Bank, where most of the 230,000 Jewish settlers live.
