By Chris Mitchell
Middle East Bureau Chief

April 30, 2004

Sharon's plan would displace 8,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and resettle them in either the Negev Desert or the Galilee area.

CBN.com �?JERUSALEM - This Sunday, Likud party members in Israel will vote to either accept or reject Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull out from the Gaza Strip. The outcome of the vote will likely have an enormous impact on the future of Israel and the entire Middle East.

Earlier this week, tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in the Gaza Strip to oppose Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip. It was one of the many efforts, large and small, to influence the upcoming election.

Nadia Matar, from the group Women in Green, took to the streets of Jerusalem this week to convince Likud members their vote is critical on whether to turn the Gaza Strip over to the Palestinians.

Matar said, "Two hundred-thousand people who belong to the Likud movement will have to decide on the future of the state of Israel, no less and no more. Vote against the prime minister's plan if you want to live. Vote against the suicide. Vote against rewarding terror. Vote for the survival of the state of Israel."

While Matar works to defeat the plan, many Israelis remain divided about its merits.

The following comments were drawn from various citizens: "This is a reward for terrorism. That's what it's all about."

Another said, "But then again, what's the solution?"

A third commented, "I'm for it, to move out the Israelis from the Gaza Strip. Absolutely. There's a lot of other places to go."

And a fourth citizen said, "I do agree with him, with the points to get out of Gaza, the Gaza Strip, because in the Gaza Strip a lot of Israeli got killed, you know, a lot of problems, as you know."

One of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Gaza disengagement has been Deputy Prime Minister and former Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert. He says the pullout will enhance security.

Olmert stated, "It is my obligation to make sure that I can provide better security for more people, even at the cost of pulling out from certain territories."

But many Israelis believe the pullout will undermine security. "It's a very dangerous precedent that he's setting," one citizen said, "to give back territory in the face of terror, because it shows the enemy that terror pays. Just like Barak withdrew from Lebanon, and the enemy is seeing that we're doing a certain amount of weakness in doing that."

A recent poll by the Zionist Organization of America confirmed that a majority of Likud members agree with that view. According to the poll, 62 percent of Likud members believe the plan is a victory for terrorism and 57 percent believe the plan will not decrease terrorism.

The outcome in the Likud election could be very close, despite the backing of the plan by the Bush administration, and by three key Likud members of Sharon's cabinet: Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Limor Livnat and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

They endorsed the plan, but refused to campaign for it. According to some observers, their tepid support actually hurt the prospects for Sharon's plan.

One opponent, former Israeli liaison to the U.S. Congress Yoram Ettinger, says the Gaza pullout would not only increase terrorism, but would also hurt the U.S.-led global war on terror.

"When the role model of counter-terrorism retreats in the face of terrorism," Ettinger said, "it affects the whole region. It does serve as a tail wind to terrorism. When Israel withdrew, unfortunately, from southern Lebanon, we propelled Hezbollah from a small local terror group into a significant regional terror group with footprints, with operatives today in Iraq fighting U.S. soldiers there."

Sharon's plan would displace 8,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip and resettle them in either the Negev Desert or the Galilee area. In the past three years, most of the residents have experienced regular rocket attacks, while raising families and maintaining a multi-million dollar agricultural industry. Some of them simply do not understand the plan.

Anita Tucker, a resident of Gaza, said, "The plan has no logic whatsoever. It can't be that people who are living peacefully in a place and turned into a flourishing beautiful area should have to leave their home in this modern day and age. People are so worried about human rights all over the world. Why should we leave our homes, and around us are people who are trying to murder us, trying to rocket us, trying to kill us?"

Others believe giving up the Gaza would be giving up the biblical patrimony of Israel. The book of Joshua in chapter 15, verse 47, says that the land of Gaza was given to the tribe of Judah.

Herbert Zwiebon of Americans for a Safe Israel, said, "There's something very basic here. We go back to a covenant. We go back to a deal. We go back to a promise. And to toss that aside, to surrender, to retreat from it, I think is a slap in the face to all people, Jews and Christians who believe."

The vote is taking place in a volatile legal and political atmosphere. Sharon is facing a possible indictment in a few weeks and if he wins the vote, his coalition will likely fall. But regardless of the vote, some say they won't give up the land.

Matar said, "Our major work is after the referendum. Whatever the results are, we are not budging, we are not moving. We are staying. And Sharon will never be able to uproot us."