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PM, Security Chiefs Discuss Disengagement Plan
(Jerusalem Post) Margot Dudkevitch and Herb Keinon - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, National Security Council head Giora Eiland, and senior security personnel Tuesday to prepare for Wednesday's arrival of a high-level U.S. delegation to discuss Israel's disengagement plan. Officials at the meeting studied the possibility of allowing the IDF to retain a presence in the northern Gaza Strip as well as along the Philadelphia Route in the southern Gaza Strip, the thin length of land under Israeli control that runs between the border with Egypt and the Palestinian-controlled part of Rafah. An Israeli official said there will be a reluctance on the part of the U.S. to enthusiastically adopt the plan since doing so would be tantamount to saying the road map has failed. Officials said the U.S. delegation is interested in giving U.S. input before the plan is crystallized. The U.S. is also concerned a Gaza withdrawal will lead to calls for the deployment of a multinational force there to restore order, something the U.S. will be reluctant to join, and that Israel will also likely present the U.S. with an enormous bill to help defray the cost of withdrawal.