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Likud party to vote on Sharon's withdrawal plan

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza pullout plan was hanging in the balance yesterday as members of his right-wing Likud party prepared to vote on his ambitions to bring the opposition Labor Party into a new broad-based coalition.

While opponents of the pullout plan will submit a motion to the party's 2,900-strong convention that would specifically rule out Labor joining the govern-ment, Sharon is expected to counter with his own motion which would authorize him to negotiate with "any Zionist party."

Sharon needs to bring Labor into government in order to pass his so-called disengagement plan through parliament.

Declining support

He lost his majority in the 120-seat Knesset in June when traditional right-wing supporters baulked at what they regard as the "forcible transfer of Jews" from the Gaza Strip.

Convention president Israel Katz, who is one of the leading opponents of the disengagement plan, said yesterday that the party members were likely to first vote on Sharon's motion and then on Labor in government.

"Technically, one could vote for the two motions, which represent two totally opposite concepts," Katz, who is agriculture minister in the government, told public radio.

Likud divisions

Amid fears that the outcome of the vote could lead to a deep division within party ranks, Katz said it was vital that the vote took place in a "calm atmosphere which is vital to preserve unity within Likud."

Sharon has said that he will not be bound by the outcome of the vote, but a rejection of his overall political strategy would be extremely damaging.

The disengagement plan was rejected in a wider ballot of Likud members in May but Sharon has ploughed ahead with his project.

Sharon has been insisting that a coalition with Labor is far from inevitable and hopes that his alternative resolution will convince sceptics to give the prime minister room to maneuver.
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