Court approves Gaza withdrawal
Israel's supreme court ruled today that prime minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan is constitutional, removing the last legal obstacle to this summer's pullback.
The ruling came as the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met militant groups in Gaza to try to resolve domestic political disputes and keep a fragile truce withIsrael intact.
Israel and the Palestinians are trying to maintain the truce to allow them to coordinate theGaza pullout, which is scheduled to begin in mid-August.
The 11-judge supreme court bench rejected 12 petitions by opponents of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements, ruling the pullout does not violate the human rights of the Israeli settlers.
In their 320-page ruling, the judges upheld four technical challenges dealing with financial compensation for settlers who will be evicted, but stressed that the withdrawal itself was constitutional. One judge dissented, arguing that a law governing the pullout was unsound and should be repealed.
Yoram Sheftel, a lawyer for the settlers, said his expectations were low because the supreme court had a tendency to back the government against Jewish settlers.
"We didn't expect anything from this court since the petitioners are Jews and patriots," he said. "This was fully expected."
As Mr Sharon has already won parliamentary approval for the withdrawal, the court decision exhausted the settlers' legal options for halting it. Some 9,000 settlers are to be uprooted from their homes under the plan.
The justice minister, Tzipi Livni, praised the court's decision, and expressed hope that the ruling would defuse potentially violent settler resistance to the evacuation.
In recent weeks, opponents of the plan have blocked rush-hour traffic on major highways and sabotaged public buildings. Security officials have warned that a small number of hard-liners were likely to resist the pullout by force.
"I hope this ruling makes it absolutely clear to the individual settler that the plan is going ahead," Ms Livni told Army Radio.
The ruling comes as opinion polls show that public support for the plan - which was initially around 70% - is dropping. Recent polls show support for the plan at around 5%.
Despite the judgment, Gaza settler leader Avnr Shimoni said he still hoped public opinion would derail the plan.
"The polls show that the public is opposed," he told Army Radio. "In the end this is what will pressure our parliament to decide against this."
Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to coordinate the Gaza pullout to prevent violence or chaos during the operation, however the two sides have made little concrete progress.
A new round of violence - concentrated mostly in the Gaza Strip - has increased Israeli fears that the ceasefire could collapse and militants will fire on settlers and security forces during the evacuation. On Tuesday, six people were killed in a series of clashes and yesterday Israel attacked militants with an airstrike as they prepared to use a mortar.