Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip suffered a symbolic setback on Monday when the legislature voted to reject the speech which he used to raise the proposal.
The vote was nonbinding, but demonstrated the tough opposition Sharon is facing.
In an address opening the winter session of the legislature, Sharon said evacuating Israelis from Gaza was a difficult but necessary move, and he urged lawmakers to approve the measure when it is formally presented on Oct. 25.
Some lawmakers heckled Sha-ron during his long speech, which focused on the Gaza issue. And afterward, the legislature voted 53 to 44 to reject his speech, using a traditional sign of displeasure.
Sharon might fare better when the actual vote on his Gaza proposal is conducted. Monday's informal ballot allowed the members of the fractious legislature to express opposition when nothing of substance was on the line.
Still, the vote showed that Sha-ron was struggling in his effort to persuade lawmakers to bring an end to Israel's presence in the volatile coastal territory, which is the scene of almost daily fighting.
If he does not win the passage of his Gaza initiative, it will also bode ill for the survival of his co-alition government, which lost its parliamentary majority over the summer. In Monday's legislative session, the government survived two no-confidence votes.
Opinion polls consistently show that about two-thirds of Israelis favor Sharon's plan, which calls for the withdrawal of all 8,000 settlers in the Gaza Strip and a few hundred in the West Bank. But Sharon is facing a vocal and well-organized campaign by the settlers and right-wing Israelis who denounce the move as a "concession to Palestinian terrorism."
In his speech, Sharon acknow-ledged that his withdrawal plan "is a source of great controversy." He also expressed empathy for the Gaza families that would be uprooted.
"We must all realize how difficult it is for a family to abandon its lifestyle," he said. "After all, these are people who were sent to the Gaza Strip by Israeli governments. Some of them have been living there for 30 years."
The vote planned for Oct. 25 is one of several hurdles that will have to be cleared before the plan can be carried out next year.
The legislature would also have to approve a compensation package for settlers, with most families to receive between US$200,000 and US$300,000 to relocate. That measure is tentatively scheduled to go to the legislature at the beginning of next month.
In another development, Israel's military said it was conducting two separate investigations into the shooting death last week of a 13-year-old Palestinian girl who was riddled with bullets as she walked near a military post near the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The soldiers' battalion commander and the military's judge advocate general have both ordered investigations. In a statement, the military said it "recognizes the gravity of the incident, and the allegation requires a full investigation."
Palestinians and human-rights groups have often accused the Israeli military of firing recklessly during the last four years of fighting. The military says that civilian casualties are unintentional and investigations are conducted if there is evidence of impropriety.
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