Sharon rallies support for disengagement

PRIME MINISTER Ariel Sharon arrived home yesterday from Washington, facing a tough domestic battle over his "unilateral disengagement" plan despite a boost from his talks with President Bush.

Sharon's first challenge is to convince sceptical members of his Likud Party who will hold a May 2 referendum on the plan. Polls published yesterday gave the prime minister only a slim majority among 200,000 party members.

The plan, which calls for Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and small areas of the West Bank, was published in full for the first time in Israeli newspapers yesterday.