Wye redeployment begins today

By DANNA HARMAN

JERUSALEM (November 20) - With the support of only six of his 17 ministers, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu yesterday squeaked through a vote of approval for the first redeployment under the Wye accord and set on course the first stage of its implementation.

Five ministers voted against implementation, three abstained, and two were abroad.

Today, for the first time in nearly two years, the Likud government will hand over territory to Palestinian control. In addition, 250 Palestinians will be let out of Israeli jails and the Palestinian airport at Dahaniya will be allowed to open. Royal Air Maroc has announced that it will fly the first plane into Gaza on Sunday.

Netanyahu is reportedly "very disappointed" with his ministers, especially with Industry and Trade Minister Nathan Sharansky, who was instrumental in negotiating the Wye accord and voted to ratify it both in the cabinet and the Knesset, but abstained yesterday.

Sharansky said he does not believe that the government should move forward with the pullback with so many holes still gaping.

"I have to be true to my principles," he told The Jerusalem Post. "I want to proceed with this process, but I think if we let things slide now we will be in trouble later."

Sharansky argued that disputes over the list of prisoners, for example, could be resolved in "another 12 hours of talks," but that the importance of solving those remaining differences should not be belittled.

The decision to move forward with implementation comes after five days of delay, during which the Palestinian Authority had been asked to prove it had fulfilled its first implementation commitments.

After the cabinet vote, cabinet secretary Dan Naveh confirmed that the Palestinians have met their obligations: The decree regarding illegal weapons was published yesterday; the anti-incitement decree has been drafted, signed by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and is expected to be published today; a letter from chief negotiator Saeb Erekat confirms that the PLO executive committee has reaffirmed the nullification of the Palestinian Covenant sections calling for Israel's destruction; and the 10 wanted fugitives to be jailed by the PA by yesterday have been imprisoned and confirmed by Israel.

Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz reportedly told the cabinet that more than 10 of the fugitives are already behind bars. In addition, all delegates to the trilateral committee against incitement have been named, and the group is to convene next week for its first meeting.

Not all the ministers were impressed.

Communications Minister Limor Livnat, Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, and Sharansky abstained; Environment Minister Rafael Eitan, Education Minister Yitzhak Levy, Transport Minister Shaul Yahalom, Absorption Minister Yuli Edelstein, and Science Minister Silvan Shalom voted against; and Health Minister Yehoshua Matza and Tourism Minister Moshe Katsav were abroad.

• Redeployment could alter US role
• IDF wraps up Wye's first stage today
• First Wye pullout to end by tomorrow
• Settlers scurry to limit pullout threat
• IDF poised to implement first Wye transfer
• Wye redeployment begins today
• PM confident he can sell Wye
• Netanyahu flies to capital to avoid protesters
• Right outraged at Wye signing, Left skeptical
• PA officials pleased, extremists reject accord
• Settler leaders weigh next steps
• US Jewish leaders hail accord

• What's in the accord?

• Text of The Wye Memorandum

• Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech
• PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's speech

• A patchy deal can easily unravel
• Strained relations
• Clinton deserves praise for job well done
• Wye deal to launch final talks
• Netanyahu turns centrist, but still faces Right
• Now for the tough part
• REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: Reflections on Wye

• EDITORIAL: A tardy first step
• The next stage

• Sources: There was a tacit deal to release Pollard
• A Pollard chronology
• Pollard's father disappointed that Israel 'caved in' over release