Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to bring forward to late this month a planned vote among members of his right-wing Likud party on his plan to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported yesterday.
The vote, among the Likud's 200,000 members, may be held one or two days after the country's April 26 Independence Day celebrations and not early next month as originally planned, army radio said. Sharon has asked Likud electoral commission officer Zvi Cohen to start preparations for a vote to be held before the end of this month.
The daily Haaretz said Sharon wanted to hold the party vote and then put his plan to the government before the May 3 start of the parliamentary session.
Sharon is to meet US President George W. Bush in Washington on Wednesday with the aim of getting US backing for his plan under which Israel would pull out of the Gaza Strip and dismantle four Jewish settlements in the north of the West Bank.
The prime minister hopes that, with official US backing for the plan, he will be able to persuade Likud members to back it.
Opponents of the plan criticize what they term Sharon's "maneuvers."
"It is not possible to organize a vote which is vital for the future of Israel without giving members of the Likud time to study the consequences of their choice," Likud MP Gilad Erdan told public radio.
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