The Finance Committee is to vote tom´w on the Compensation/Evacuation Law – also known as the Disengagement Law – and paradoxically, both sides are worried that there won´t be a majority in favor.

On the one hand, most of the committee is united in agreeing that the law as presently formulated does not provide sufficient compensation to families whose lives the government wishes to overturn and relocate elsewhere. Committee Chairman Avraham Shochat (pictured above) and MK Chaim Oron – of the left-wing Labor and Meretz/Yachad parties, respectively – have been both outspoken and active in inserting changes that would improve the situation. The right-wing MKs are also in favor of the changes.

However, these improvements have not yet been officially inserted into the proposed law, and are awaiting tomorrow´s vote. The problem is that the same majority that favors the changes does not approve the law itself. The right-wing MKs thus find themselves in a bind. As committee member MK Nissan Slomiansky (NRP) explained to Arutz-7 today, "We of course object to the law itself, and will not give it our support. However, the worst scenario of all is if the improved version fails to pass, and then the original law will be brought for a Knesset vote. We have to ensure that if the legislation passes, it must pass with the improved changes."

At present, new Finance Committee Chairman Yaakov Litzman (Agudat Yisrael), whose party recently joined the government coalition, is in favor of the bill – but he is sitting shiva [the seven-day mourning period] for his mother who passed away this week, and will not be able to participate in the vote. This leaves the committee deadlocked, thus that the legislation will not pass.

One possible option to ensure that the changes are inserted is to convince Arab MK Mohammed Barakeh to abstain instead of voting against the bill. Another possibility, reports Arutz-7´s Knesset correspondent Ariel Kahane, is to propose the changes to the full plenum as amendments. No one can know, however, how the full Knesset would vote on each individual proposed change. A final option is to postpone the vote until the middle of next week, when Litzman will be back - but Prime Minister Sharon is pushing strongly to hold the vote as soon as possible, so that his disengagement timetable can be retained. Sharon wishes to hold the final votes on the bill a week from today, on Wednesday, Feb. 9.

"As of now," reports Kahane, "it is not yet clear what will happen in tomorrow´s vote." (IsraelNationalNews © 02/03/05)