JERUSALEM, Oct 26 (AFP) - Israel`s parliament approved Tuesday night Prime Minister Ariel Sharon`s controverisal plan to pull troops and the 8,000 Jewish settlers out of the Gaza Strip next year.
Deputies voted 67 to 45 in favour of the project, which also envisages a strengthening of Israeli control over larger West Bank settlement blocs.
There were seven abstentions.
The vote came after a stormy debate over the fiercely contested plan, which should lead to a first ever Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory.
Several hundred residents from four isolated settlements in the northern West Bank are also due to be uprooted from their homes as part of the project, with the evacuation process expected to begin around May next year.
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Limor Livnat initially threatened to abstain in the vote in a bid to put pressure on the premier to hold a referendum on the project but they eventually supported the government.
Sharon`s victory was achieved partly through a decision by the left-wing opposition Labour and Yahad parties to support the premier, who had previously been regarded as the ultimate champion of the settler movement.
The prime minister is currently without a majority in the 120-seat Knesset after traditional allies quit in protest at his project.
Labour leader Shimon Peres said after the vote that his party "will continue to act according to the needs of peace" when asked whether his faction would continue to provide a safety net for the current coalition.
10/26/2004 18:58 GMT - AFP