JERUSALEM – Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday shortened Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s term by a year in an election ruling that could further weaken his minority government and complicate a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
The court said elections must be held by November 2006 and that the original November 2007 date was based on a mistaken interpretation of the electoral law.
Tuesday’s high court ruling on the election date added to growing political uncertainty. Last month, Sharon lost his parliamentary majority over the Gaza withdrawal plan, with hardliners quitting or getting fired from the coalition.
Sharon has pledged to carry out his withdrawal from Gaza by the end of 2005, but continuing Gaza violence or political maneuvering could delay that plan.
Israel’s police minister, meanwhile, delivered the starkest warning yet about violence over the Gaza pullback, saying he believes Jewish extremists are plotting to assassinate leading politicians to stop the dismantling of settlements.
“They (extremists) will assassinate the prime minister, a minister, an army official or a police official,” Tsahi Hanegbi, the police minister, told Israel TV’s Channel Two. “They don’t always succeed and they don’t always have the means to carry out the acts. But we are not lacking extremists.”
It was not clear if Hanegbi had concrete information.
Also Tuesday, seven Palestinians and an Israeli commando were killed in several clashes in the West Bank and Gaza.
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