Cabinet may decide in January on pullback

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intends to ask the cabinet in January or February to authorize the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon had originally intended to bring the matter to the cabinet in March and to start the withdrawal in the summer of 2005.

The Labor Party, which expects to join his cabinet in the beginning of January, will push for advancing the pullback if possible, its leader Shimon Peres last week indicated to UPI.

Sharon Monday briefed the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on his changed plan. Committee Chairman Yuval Steinitz told reporters Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is responsible for the change.

Mazuz made it clear Sharon "had to give settlers at least six months' notice before evacuating them," Steinitz said according to Haaretz's Web site.