Sharon threatens early polls

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday invited the moderate Labour Party into his shaky coalition on a day a 72-year-old disabled man was killed when his house was destroyed by the army.

Sharon warned rebels in his Likud Party he will call early elections if they try to block the partnership.

An alliance with Labour would boost Sharon’s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four isolated West Bank settlements by 2005. Coalition hard-liners have been trying to sabotage a pullback.