SURPRISE Sharon delays presentation of disengagement plan to cabinet.

WHAT A SURPRISE WHAT A SURPRISE Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has decided not to submit the disengagement plan for cabinet approval at the next ministerial session and intends to present it at the cabinet's session on May 30, at the end of the three weeks he has allocated for reformulating it.





WHAT A SURPRISE



Senior sources said yesterday that the plan's phrasing had not been completed and required more work, especially with regard to expanding the security clauses.

WHAT A SURPRISE According to the revised plan, the evacuation of the settlements will be carried out in four stages, and each stage will be submitted to cabinet debate and approval before implementation.

WHAT A SURPRISE The first stage will see the evacuation of isolated settlements in the Gaza Strip that are considered the most difficult to maintain from a security point of view. These include Netzarim, Morag and Kfar Darom. After them, four isolated settlements in the northern West Bank - Ganim, Kadim, Sa-Nur and Homesh - are earmarked for evacuation. The third stage will include the evacuation of the Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip, while the fourth and final stage of the plan will include the evacuation of three settlements in the north of the Gaza Strip - Nissanit, Dugit and Alei Sinai.

WHAT A SURPRISE The revised version of the disengagement plan adheres to the initial timetable of completing the evacuation by the end of 2005.

WHAT A SURPRISE A senior government source said yesterday that dividing the plan into stages and conditioning their implementation on the cabinet's approval would provide the ministers with a dignified "way out" and postpone the political confrontation for another year, until the implementation stages.

WHAT A SURPRISE Sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau believe that the National Union will quit the coalition after the approval of the disengagement plan in principle, and will not wait until the plan is implemented.



Haaretz