Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced the first stages of his Gaza disengagement plan at a meeting of the Likud’s members of Knesset (parliament) on Tuesday.
By September 14, members of the security cabinet will formulate a bill detailing the evacuation of Jewish residents of Gaza as well as precise figures for compensation. The cabinet will approve the bill by October 24 and it will be presented to the Knesset on November 3.
In the meantime, the IDF will make preparation plans for the disengagement, including the prevention of terror attacks in the coming month.
The security cabinet voted to task the police with actually removing settlers yesterday while the IDF will be responsible for the operation overall. Another debate revolves around whether to execute the evacuation in phases as voted by the cabinet in June or to do it all at once, as Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz argues.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment.