Sharon seeks US approval for Gaza plan

PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon left for Washington Tuesday to win American backing for a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in exchange for expanding five large West Bank settlement blocs.

Sharon disclosed the final element of the plan just hours before his departure, naming for the first time the West Bank areas he plans to keep under Israeli control.

About 92,500 of the approximately 220,000 West Bank Jewish settlers live in the blocs Sharon listed. Peace Now, an Israeli settlement monitoring group, estimated that Israel would have to keep about 50 percent of the West Bank to hold on to the blocs.