Israel’s foreign minister came out in favor of the plan for Israel to disengage from the Palestinians. “Despite misgivings and ideological anguish, I have decided to support the plan,” Silvan Shalom told reporters Monday, saying he had been swayed by President Bush’s endorsement of the plan at a White House summit last week with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Shalom joins Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Limor Livnat, also from the ruling Likud Party, in making an about-face to support the plan for Israel to pull out of all of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. The show of support bodes well for Sharon ahead of a May 2 referendum on the plan among Likud’s 200,000 members.
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