JERUSALEM, Sept. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The Israeli cabinet voted 14 to 2 against the demolition of 25 synagogues in the evacuated Gaza Strip at Sunday's cabinet meeting.

    Labor Knesset (parliament) member Ophir Pines-Paz and Haim Ramonvoted in favor of the demolition, and Dalia Itzik abstained.

    The vote ensured that the Israeli army will complete its final stage of withdrawal from the coastal strip by Monday.

    Supporters of the synagogue destruction said they don't want Palestinians to desecrate and demolish them, while opponents claimed it is preferable for the Palestinians to destroy them than for the Jewish state to do so.

    Palestinian officials have refused to guarantee that the synagogues will not be desecrated, and have asked Israel to destroy them, Mofaz said.

    Earlier at the cabinet meeting, the ministers unanimously gave the Israel Defense Forces the green light to end military rule in the Gaza Strip, installed 38 years ago after the 1967 Middle East War, when Israel captured the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

    The cabinet also approved the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Philadelphi route along the Gaza-Egypt border, where Egyptian and Palestinian forces began their deployment the previous day.

    The final stage of withdrawal followed the evacuation of some 9,000 Israeli settlers from all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank in August, the first withdrawal from land the Palestinians want for a state.

    A handover ceremony will take place later Sunday at Erez crossing in northern Gaza, attended by both the Palestinian and Israeli security forces. Enditem