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Likud members reject Sharon's settlement plan

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gives a speech next to a photograph of the spiritual founding father of Israel's right-wing ideology, Zeev Jabotinsky, during the Likud convention in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Wednesday. PHOTO: AFP

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged Thursday to push ahead with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip despite a stinging public rebuke from his Likud Party.

Sharon will try to build a "strong, stable coalition" even though his hard-line party voted Wednesday against joining forces with the center-left Labor Party, said a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The prime minister is determined to continue with the disengagement plan and the diplomatic process and he will try to build a stable coalition," according to a statement from Sharon's office.

The vote at a Likud Party convention Wednesday was not close with 60 percent in favor of banning Labor. The opposition party's inclusion was needed to assure Cabinet support of the Gaza withdrawal next year.

Even Sharon's own proposal, to allow him to negotiate with all the Zionist parties, was narrowly voted down. A defiant Sharon indicated he would ignore the results, but even supporters wondered if the battle-scarred political infighter would succeed.

Abandoned by traditional hard-line supporters because of his plan to withdraw from all Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements in September 2005, Sharon launched coalition talks with the Labor Party.

Labor would ensure Sharon a majority for the plan both in his Cabinet and in parliament, something he doesn't have now.

The votes could stall or even scuttle the Gaza withdrawal, although Sharon has insisted he intends to carry it out. The Cabinet must vote on each stage that involves evacuation of Israeli settlements, and Sharon would find it hard to muster a majority without Labor, because of the opposition in his own party.

Even before the vote, Sharon aides said it would not be legally binding on the prime minister.

Speaking at the convention, Sharon was stoic in the face of loud heckling. "Likud will not disqualify or boycott anyone. Likud will conduct negotiations with all Zionist parties for expanding the coalition," he said, as opponents chanted, "Likud yes, Labor no."

However, opponents said he would not be able to approach Labor now. "Sharon cannot ignore the wishes of his party," said Likud lawmaker Michael Ratzon.

The Labor Party denounced the results, saying Likud had become "a movement that destroys all chances to bring about an end to violence in the region." The Labor statement said ``elections must be called immediately.''

General elections are due by 2006, and a new government could be a short-term affair. Likud-Labor coalition negotiations stalled earlier over domestic issues.

Labor strongly favors Sharon's ``unilateral disengagement'' plan. Labor has long advocated an Israeli pullout from Gaza and most of the West Bank for peace with the Palestinians. The Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the two areas, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

On May 2, about 60 percent of Likud Party members voting in a non-binding referendum turned down Sharon's plan, which would remove all 21 settlements from Gaza and four of the 150 from the West Bank.

Sharon, who refuses to negotiate with the Palestinians, says the plan is needed to boost Israel's security and ensure its Jewish majority.

Ignoring the referendum, Sharon fired a pro-settlement party from his coalition and saw another resign in order to ram the plan through his Cabinet. But he lost his parliamentary majority in the process.
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