Jerusalem
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon managed this week to win Cabinet approval of his plan to withdraw all Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip by next year—but the victory left his government in a precarious state. Before the vote, Sharon dismissed from his ruling coalition the hard-line National Union Party, which opposed the plan. His coalition was further weakened when two Cabinet members from the pro-settler National Religious Party resigned and said their party might pull out of the government altogether. That would leave Sharon with control of fewer than half the seats in the Knesset, and dependent on the support of the opposition Labor party. “Disengagement is on the way,” Sharon said. “This decision ensures Israel’s future.”
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