Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday submitted his Gaza withdrawal plan for a crucial parliamentary vote, while tanks and troops killed 16 Palestinians in a raid against militants in the coastal strip.
Facing far-right threats to his coalition and warnings of civil strife, Mr Sharon opened a stormy, two-day debate widely expected to end in approval for Israel's first evacuation of settlers from occupied lands where Palestinians want a state.
"This is a fateful hour for Israel. We are facing an unprecedented decision," Mr Sharon said to loud heckling from ultra-nationalist lawmakers opposed to his plan, which he promotes as "disengagement" from conflict with the Palestinians. "You are tearing the nation apart. Go home. You must not expel Jews," Uri Ariel of the ultra-nationalist National Union party shouted at Mr Sharon before being ejected from the chamber.
Mr Sharon, once the settlers' champion but now the target of their ire, said pulling out of tiny Gaza by the end of next year would make Israel easier to defend and allow it to seal its grip on larger West Bank settlements. The plan has US approval.
Police ringed the Knesset building in the face of anonymous threats to assassinate Mr Sharon and planned rallies by Israelis for and against his plan, which calls for uprooting all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops and tanks raided Khan Younis refugee camp, killing 16 Palestinians and wounding some 85, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.
An 11-year-old boy was among civilians killed and three Palestinian policemen also died, the witnesses said. The army said it was targeting militants behind mortar bomb attacks on nearby settlements. Militants fired anti-tank rockets and detonated bombs as the Israeli force pushed into the camp. Witnesses said Israel used missile-firing drones in the operation.
Polls show most Israelis back "disengagement" and it is likely to pass with 67 of the 120 votes in the Knesset today, but only with support of left-wing opposition members to offset a mutiny by rightists in Mr Sharon's Likud party.
Mr Sharon accused his far-right opponents, many of whom stake a biblical claim to the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank, of a "messianic complex" and urged Israelis to unite behind him.
"I'm convinced this disengagement will strengthen Israel and its hold on the territory vital for our existence," said the former general, vowing to "carry out this mission to the end" and calling it the hardest decision he has made.
Some 8,000 Jews live in fortified enclaves in Gaza among 1.3 million Palestinians.
Palestinians believe Mr Sharon's plan will kill off deadlocked peace efforts and leave them only Gaza and scattered parts of the West Bank for a state.
But if implemented, Mr Sharon's plan would be Israel's first removal of settlements from territories occupied in the 1967 Middle East war since 1982, when Sinai was returned to Egypt.
Shimon Peres, head of the opposition Labour Party and Israel's leading dove, told lawmakers Mr Sharon's plan did not go far enough but that his centre-left bloc would back it anyway.
"Can we build a moral country in which we remain rulers of a people against its will?" Mr Peres asked.
Mr Sharon has been cranking up military action to smash Gaza militants who see an Israeli pullout as a victory for them after four years of revolt.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie denounced the Khan Younis raid and called for international intervention.
"Does this (raid) reflect a... policy of destroying Gaza before evacuating it?" Mr Qurie said in the West Bank.