The Syrians want Israel to withdraw troops and settlements from the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied after the 1967 war, in return for Syria's offering a full peace to Israel.

"What is unusual is for a party like Likud to withdraw and dismantle settlements and to declare the need for a Palestinian state."

This is an open rebuke of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet-approved plan to withdraw all Israeli forces and settlements from Gaza and a small part of the West Bank.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw Jewish settlements from Gaza, now approved by Israel's Parliament, arouses mixed emotions.

For peace, Mr. Rabin says he is willing to give up most of the heights and to withdraw Israeli forces and settlements there over several years.

LAST week, in an effort to solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, I withdrew settlements in the Gaza Strip.

He resigned from the cabinet in April 2005 to protest plans to withdraw Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.

The clashes came on the eve of a critical vote on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw settlements and troops from the Gaza Strip.

Ariel Sharon has declared his intention to withdraw Israeli forces and settlements from the Gaza Strip - without any formal agreement with the Palestinians.

Disengagement offers the prospect of Israel withdrawing settlements from Gaza and part of the West Bank for the first time in history.