Israel’s cabinet today approved a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in principle, but put off a vote on the dismantling of Israeli settlements.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fired two hardline ministers today, paving the way for his Gaza pullout plan, but also triggering a possible political crisis.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today threatened to dismiss Cabinet ministers who do not support his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, raising the stakes in a showdown that could break up the government, participants in the meeting said.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will ask his Cabinet on Sunday to approve his proposal to withdraw from the entire Gaza Strip, officials said today, setting up a showdown with opponents that could bring down the government.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tonight ruled out peace negotiations with the Palestinians, charging that they are doing nothing to stop attacks against Israelis.

ISRAEL Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his stunned Likud Party yesterday he plans to dismantle settlements in the Gaza Strip, turning it into a Jewish-free zone.

The United States has criticised Israel’s prime minister Ariel Sharon over his threat to draw his own borders and isolate the Palestinians if peace efforts remain deadlocked.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia is said to have threatened to quit today after a row with Yasser Arafat.

BEARING a package of goodwill offerings toward the Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday prepared for talks with President George Bush aimed at finding an elusive peace.

ISRAEL’S cabinet narrowly approved a US-backed Middle East peace plan yesterday, accepting for the first time a timetable for the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip but objecting to significant portions of the plan.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the arch rival of Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, today accepted the post in the government that he had earlier spurned.

Israeli troops blew up a suicide bomber’s home in the West Bank and thwarted a car bombing today, hours before Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to present his new hard-line government to parliament for approval.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday formed a hawkish coalition government dominated

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon brought the centrist Shinui Party into his coalition yesterday, ensuring a slim majority in parliament that will allow him to form a government, a spokesman for Sharon said.

ISRAELI forces killed eight Palestinians and an Israeli soldier was shot dead yesterday as Israel’s centre-left Labour Party said it was pulling out of talks on joining Ariel Sharon’s coalition.

Palestinians fired mortars at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip and a farming village in Israel overnight, drawing Israeli return fire that seriously wounded a supporter of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Mortar shells rained down on Israeli villages inside and outside the Gaza Strip overnight, despite two short Israeli incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas.