Israel's Knesset voted Tuesday night to approve Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally disengage from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.

• 67 MKs voted in favor
• 45 MKs voted against
• 7 MKs abstained

Under the principles of the plan, Israel is to have no presence in the Gaza Strip or northern West Bank by the end of 2005, except for the Philadelphi route on the Egypt-Gaza border. Sharon does not intend to seek Knesset approval for the cabinet decision on evacuations, according to his advisors.

The plan could still be halted by a public referendum, and the cabinet must also convene to decide whether, where and when to give the order to evacuate settlements. The Likud Party was split in the vote, with 23 voting in favor and 17 against. Twenty-nine of the votes in favor came from left-wing opposition MKs, and one from MK Michael Nudelman of the far-right National Union party. Fourteen Shinui MKs also voted for the plan.

"The Knesset has decided by a maority vote and the decision binds us all," Speaker Reuven Rivlin said after the vote...