Gaza Pullout To Start Summer 2005, Last 12 Weeks: Israeli P.M.

JERUSALEM, Sept 22 (AFP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday that Israel's withdrawal of troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip would start in the summer of 2005 and last 12 weeks, in an interview with public television.
"It is a very complex operation, very difficult and very painful, which will be carried out, I think, over the space of 12 weeks starting from the summer of 2005," he said.
By the end of 2005, Sharon plans an Israeli pullout from Gaza and its 21 settlements as well as four isolated settlements in the northern West Bank, under his proposal for the Jewish state to disengage from the Palestinians.
On June 6, he won approval in principle from his government for the plan, despite strong resistance from within his own right-wing Likud party and fierce opposition from Jewish settlers.