Gaza pullout 'could start early'

Many Jewish settlers are fiercely opposed to the Gaza plan

Israel is planning to offer cash advances to Jewish settlers willing to leave Gaza from August this year, officials have said.

Under the proposed timetable, the settlers would have until 1 September 2005 to leave voluntarily.

The army would then forcibly remove any remaining settlers by 15 September.

The cabinet has approved in principle Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip - but there will be a fresh vote at each stage.

"We agreed that those who want to leave voluntarily will receive advances as part of compensation," Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

He said it was not clear how much how much compensation would be paid or how much the advances would be.

Under the plan, contained in a working document drawn up by Israel's National Security Council, full compensation would only be paid once compensation legislation has been passed. The target for that is November.

Conflict ahead

A government official speaking on condition of anonymity said many of the settlers would be interested in leaving early.

"Hundred of settlers have turned to us and said, 'The decision has been made. Why should we wait a whole year? We want to get on with our lives'," the official told AP news agency.

Pullout from all 21 settlements in Gaza and 4 in West Bank Preparation period due to end by March 2005 Four-stage evacuation to be completed by end of 2005 Each stage requires cabinet vote

But a Gaza settlers' spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency said "the majority will not agree" to leave Gaza.

Israeli media report that each of the families evacuated under the withdrawal plan will receive an average of $300,000.

The cabinet voted 14 to seven on Sunday to endorse the Gaza withdrawal plan - a watered-down version of Mr Sharon's original proposals which had been rejected by his Likud party.

Under the agreed plan, all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four more in the West Bank are to be removed in four stages by the end of 2005.

But each step will have to be voted on in advance and no announcement will be made on the evacuation of specific settlements until March 2005 - a big delay on the original timetable.

Israel captured Gaza along with other Arab territories in the 1967 war and today about 7,500 Jewish settlers live there among a population of 1.2 million Palestinians.

In fresh violence late on Thursday, Israeli soldier shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank city of Nablus.

A young Palestinian man was shot and killed during a raid in a village near Bethlehem.

The Israeli military said that in both cases soldiers were targeting Palestinians who has thrown firebombs at troops.

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