JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel`s premier made an impassioned defence of his fiercely contested Gaza pullout plan at the start of a crunch debate in parliament as 14 Palestinians were killed by troops in the territory.
"I have decided to go right through to the end with this separation. I am convinced this separation will strengthen Israel," Ariel Sharon told MPs at the start of a two-day debate that will culminate in a vote on Tuesday evening.
"It will advance us on the road to peace with our neighbours the Palestinians," he added in his speech to parliament.
Under the plan, all 8,000 Jewish settlers will leave next year from Gaza, which was captured by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Several hundred residents of four small Jewish enclaves in the northern West Bank will also be uprooted from their homes.
The plan has been bitterly opposed by the right-wing prime minister`s former allies who have pointed out that Sharon made no mention of his project in the manifesto at the last general election.
Sharon, however, denied that he was guilty of "deception".
"They blame me for deceiving the voters and the people... but during the elections and as prime minister, I said openly that I was in favour of a Palestinian state."
One of Sharon`s top advisors said recently that the disengagement plan was designed to put the roadmap peace plan, jointly endorsed by Israel and the Palestinians last year, into the deep freeze.
But Sharon said that the disengagement could not serve as a substitute for the peace process.
"The separation plan is not a replacement for negotiation," Sharon told MPs. "It will not serve to freeze the situation for ever."
The premier, whose plan also envisages a cementing of Israeli control over larger West Bank settlements, also said that demographic trends threatened Israel`s democratic status unless a pullout from Gaza, which is home to around 1.3 million Palestinians, was not carried out soon.
"We cannot rule forever over millions of Palestinians who are doubling in number by every generation," he said.
"If Israel wants to be a real democratic state, it cannot tolerate such a situation."
The plan has left Sharon`s right-wing Likud party bitterly divided with commentators predicting that up to 18 of the faction`s 40 MPs could vote against the government.
However, the plan is expected to receive parliamentary approval with the backing of the left-wing opposition parties Labour and Yahad.
Labour leader Shimon Peres echoed Sharon`s argument that the Israel`s continued control over Gaza threatened its democratic status.
"We cannot remain a Jewish and democratic state while we reign over millions of Palestinians," Peres said.
Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, whose secular Shinui party is the second largest in the current coalition, also said the status quo was indefensible.
"How is it that in one of the most densely populated areas in the world, that one third of the territory is populated by some 1,600 Jewish families, and that two-thirds of it is populated by 1.5 million Palestinians who don`t even have room to breathe?"
The deep divisions over the pullout were illustrated when a number of MPs were expelled for trying to disrupt the debate.
They included the leader of the National Religious Party, Effi Eitam, who quit as housing minister in June in disgust over the disengagement plan.
Massive security has been put in place around the 120-seat parliament during the course of the debate for fear of an attack by right-wing extremists.
Sharon, keen to fend off accusations that the pullout will hand control of Gaza on a plate to armed Palestinian factions, has been trying to deliver a knock-out blow to the militant groups.
Fourteen Palestinians were killed in the latest bout of violence on Monday.
The dead, among them an eight-year-old boy, were killed in either air strikes or from gunfire and tank shelling in the town of Khan Yunis. Most died when the army fired at least four air-to-ground missiles at the area, one of which hit a national security service position, security officials said.
Palestinian medics said some 70 people had also been wounded, while Israeli military sources reported that two soldiers were lightly injured.
An army spokesman said "military activity" was heightened in the area after Palestinians fired dozens of mortar rounds against settlements in recent days.
The deaths raised to 4,528 the number of people killed since the second intifada began in September 2000, including 3,498 Palestinians and 956 Israelis.
10/25/2004 - 16:11 GMT - AFP