(1 Jun 2004)
1. Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon arriving
2. Minister of Finance Binyamin Netanyahu arriving
3. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom arriving
4. Israeli Education Minister Limor Livnat arriving
5. Set up of Cabinet minister Danny Naveh
6. Set up of Cabinet minister Benny Alon
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benny Alon, Cabinet Minister, National Union:
"If the government will decide to uproot Jewish settlements in Israel, we don't have any choice. This is our platform."
8. Avigdor Lieberman, National Union party arriving
9. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arriving
10. Wide of Cabinet meeting
11. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister:
"I see the great importance in the plan to the state of Israel and its citizens. The plan will allow us to secure our international and security interests, and it will get Israel out of the dangerous political standstill. I know that this is not an easy or simple step, but we all have to reveal leadership and responsibility and together bring hope to Israel."
12. Various of meeting
13. Demonstration outside Sharon's office calling for withdrawal
14. Protesters carrying banners
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorit Oldar, Protester in favour disengagement:
"Because we think we should get out of Gaza as soon as possible and we call on the Prime Minister (Ariel Sharon) to make his promise true, that is, get us out of Gaza."
16. Security by demonstration
17. Protest against withdrawal from Gaza
18. Various protesters
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Vox Pop, Protester, against withdrawal:
"To leave the settlements means to transfer Jews and that should never occur and by a Jewish government that's a disgrace that he (Sharon) even thinks about it. I'm absolutely against that."
20. Protester
STORYLINE:
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his Cabinet on Sunday that he is ready to take "unprecedented political steps," including the dismissal of ministers, in order to pass his Gaza pullout plan, an official at the meeting said.
Sharon is trying to win approval for seeking support for a "phased disengagement plan" that calls for the evacuation of all of the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements in four stages.
The plan is almost identical to the proposal that was vetoed in a referendum on 02 May, but Sharon has pledged to push forward with his proposal.
Attempts last week to find a compromise that would have won him a Cabinet majority failed, so Sharon decided to present the entire plan to the government, his aides said.
Opening Sunday's meeting, Sharon indicated that the 23-member Cabinet would not vote on the plan during the session but start discussion.
Ahead of the meeting, the Israeli prime minister appeared to be short of a majority in the Cabinet, even though opinion polls have shown a solid majority of Israelis support the pullout plan.
As he entered the meeting, Benny Alon, cabinet minister and member of the National Union party, indicated that his party would withdraw from the government if disengagement from Gaza went ahead.
The conflict over the plan has led to sharp confrontations between Sharon and Minister of Finance Binyamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu had originally expressed support for the plan when Sharon returned last month from a White House meeting with President George W. Bush with unprecedented US commitments in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal.
After Sharon lost the Likud referendum, Netanyahu decided to oppose the plan in the Cabinet, leaving the prime minister one vote short of a majority.
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