The cabinet approved the disengagement plan last night in a 14:7 vote. Minister of Housing and Construction Effie Eitam immediately called the vote a black day for Israel and said that the National Religious Party (NRP) could not stay in the government.
The cabinet convened yesterday morning for an extended discussion prior to a vote on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
A compromise was reached between Likud ministers in the afternoon, under which no start or finish date was stipulated for the evacuation of settlements. A vote on the settlement evacuation will be taken in March 2005.
A last-minute crisis developed and the cabinet meeting was recessed. But in the end, the crisis was resolved, the compromise reach, and the plan was passed.
The NRP will now probably quit the government. Party members met with the movement's rabbis last night, and outlined the contrasting positions of Minister of Social Affairs Zevulun Orlev, who favors dialogue, and Eitam, who wants to quit the government immediately.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on June 7, 2004