Sources close to PM: Referendum on disengagement isn't an option

Sources close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday evening that Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal Monday to hold a national referendum on the disengagement plan is not an option.

In a surprise move viewed as lending indirect backing to right-wing opponents of the disengagment plan, Netanyahu called for a nationwide referendum over the prime minister's initiative.

In Netanyahu's view, the referendum should be held in an accelerated manner, with the run-up to the voting taking no longer than six weeks, Israel Radio reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in response that the proposal to hold a referendum was a dishonorable attempt to adversely affect the disengagement plan timetable. According to Olmert, such a move necessitates months of preparation, and would result in the postponement of the original timetable.

Olmert claimed that such a move would undermine the reliability of the government, and stated that such a proposal should be rejected.

Sunday night, hours after Sharon lashed out against the right's "campaign of incitement," tens of thousands of settlers and their supporters rallied in downtown Jerusalem against his disengagement plan, calling Sharon a "dictator" and demanding that the NRP quit the coalition and bring down the government.

Netanyahu, speaking to a ceremony marking the coming Rosh Hashana holiday, which begins on Wednesday night, told treasury employees and invited journalists: "I am very concerned by what all of us are seeing and have experienced in recent weeks, the verbal blows and emotions ahead of the decisions over the disengagement.

"I propose, not as a condition but as a step that could help safeguard the unity of the people, bringing about an accelerated process of a referendum, posing one question: 'Are you in favor or against the government's decision on a phased disengagement?'"

Netanyahu's reference to a phased disengagement highlights a stipulation - added to the June 6 cabinet decision because of pressure from Netanyahu and two other senior Likud ministers - which requires the cabinet to hold a separate ratification vote before each phase of the withdrawal.

Although Netanyahu indicated that the run-up to the voting could be completed in no more than six weeks, analysts said the purpose of the referendum could be in buying time, as the legislative groundwork for the plebiscite could be complex and prolonged.

Netanyahu declined to discuss if he supported the concept - advocated by many in the NRP - that the disengagment must gather a 60 percent "Yes" vote for approval.

But he said holding a referendum would lessen tension and increase understanding among Israelis. "It will be very difficult to argue that such a decision, once accepted by a majority of the public, was illegitimate."

"The supporters of disengagement appear to have a majority in the Knesset," Netanyahu told Army Radio. "They say that if there's a majority in the Knesset why do we need a referendum? I think this view is very narrow, irresponsible, and unreasonable."

Labor MK Opher Pines said he would not rule out a referendum on the disengagement plan so long as it is carried out quickly and is not decided by a relative majority, Army Radio reported.

Former MK and current leader of the Yahad movement, Yossi Beilin, said a referendum is unnecessary. Since nobody asked the nation to go into Gaza, there is no need to ask for approval to exit Gaza, Army Radio quoted Beilin as saying.

Analysts said the Sunday anti-disengagment rally was timed as a run-up to Monday's NRP Central Committee meeting.

	Deputy PM Ehud Olmert, who said Monday Netanyahu's proposal is a dishonorable attempt to adversely affect original disengagement plan timetable. (Archive - Limor Edri)