Israel’s parliament last night voted for the first time in 37 years of occupation to remove Jewish settlements from the Palestinian territories in a historic move that Ariel Sharon said paved the way to the end of the conflict.

At the end of two days of at times raucous and bitter parliamentary debate, Mr Sharon was forced to rely on the opposition to carry through his “unilateral disengagement plan” after his Likud party split over the removal of all Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and a small part of the West Bank.

Mr Sharon won, with 67 of the 120 MPs voting for the plan and 45 against. The remainder abstained.

Israel’s deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said: “The state of Israel is moving forward. We are going to change the status quo in the Middle East. We are going to make painful concessions. There is no return from this.”

Four cabinet ministers, including Mr Sharon’s arch-rival Binyamin Netanyahu, who voted in favour, none the less threatened to resign in a fortnight unless the prime minister agreed to a national referendum on the plan.

Full Article: Guardian UK

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