Ariel Sharon´s chief ally and apologist over the past five decades, journalist Uri Dan, favors a referendum on the disengagement/expulsion plan, as does the Yediot Acharonot newspaper.

"The United States was barely able to afford a civil war [in the 1860´s], but Israel cannot afford it at all," Dan writes in an op-ed in Maariv today. "Therefore, the government ministers must go again and again to the residents of Gush Katif and the other communities in the Gaza Strip slated for uprooting, and conduct a dialogue with them. They must explain why it´s important to say goodbye to the Arabs of Gaza..."

"Even if the residents greet them with a storm of rotten tomatoes and fresh eggs," Dan writes, "they deserve to have the government of Israel continue an unending dialogue with them, to try to explain and persuade why they must be uprooted from their homes, for the good of the entire nation and the future of its state. And this must be accompanied by a referendum – in order that democratic justice not only be done, but be seen."

Dan, who writes for the New York Post and appears regularly on Voice of Israel Radio, continued, "The amount of poisonous and wanton incitement against the settlers is intolerable and dangerous – making the bombardment of the Altalena appear like a light car accident in comparison. Precisely because there is no chance at all of reaching peace with Abu Mazen and his gang; precisely because the smuggling via the tunnel city in Rafiach is getting stronger, including increasingly dangerous weapons; precisely because the Egyptians continue their hypocritical game of ignoring this situation – for these reasons the government must receive renewed support from the majority of Jews for the [disengagement]."

Dan wrote that a referendum would also reduce the split that threatens to divide and destroy a camp of thousands of soldiers and officers, in both the reserves and the standing army, with knitted yarmulkes [i.e., the religious-Zionist camp], who serve as the spearhead, while thousands of other youths frolic in India and around the globe..."

Another boost for referendum-supporters was received from Israel´s largest newspaper, Yediot Acharonot. An editorial in today´s edition stated as follows:

"Support for a national referendum is a sharp change in the position expressed here in the past. But things that happened in the last months require a re-evaluation of prior positions...

"[A referendum] will force Sharon to roll up his sleeves, leave the controlled atmosphere of the Cabinet, and go out to the citizens of Israel in order to address their questions, get rid of their doubts and convince them that his path is correct. Ariel Sharon will discover in his campaign that a considerable number of Likud supporters feel that he personally deceived them. They will demand an explanation for the dramatic change from his traditional positions and he will have to provide them. Sharon won´t have a hard time doing it; the new reality will speak for itself. If Sharon applies himself to the campaign he will cause 65% of the participants in a national referendum to say yes."

In addition, a poll carried out by Shvakim Panorama for Israel Radio yesterday found that 53.5% of those questioned support holding a national referendum - and that an overwhelming 70.9% of Likud voters feel this way. (IsraelNationalNews © 02/03/05)