Sharon holds on after Gaza plan blow

ISRAEL’S Prime Minister Ariel Sharon easily survived a no-confidence vote in parliament yesterday, a day after his right-wing Likud party overwhelmingly rejected his Gaza pull-out plan.

Leftist and Arab parties, apparently trying to capitalise on Mr Sharon’s political troubles, had presented the no-confidence motion over what they called the government’s “failure socio-economically and diplomatically”.

Mr Sharon yesterday said he would amend his Gaza withdrawal plan to win over his right-wing party after it overwhelmingly rejected the US-backed initiative in a referendum.

Buoyed by Sunday’s vote, Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip poured concrete for a new neighbourhood yesterday while ultra-nationalist Jews moved into an Arab district of Jerusalem.

But Mr Sharon’s allies said that while the referendum was a humiliating reverse, he would not retreat since his landmark plan for “disengagement” from conflict with Palestinians enjoyed the support of most Israelis as shown by various polls.

He was also keen not to alienate Washington, which reversed decades of policy and incurred Arab anger by assuring Israel it would not have to cede the entire West Bank under any peace treaty if it unilaterally vacated Gaza as a start toward negotiations.

“There is no doubt disengagement is inevitable and unstoppable,” Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said of the plan to end Israel’s 37-year occupation of the territory while keeping parts of the larger West Bank.

“In the end it will happen because the alternative is more murder, terrorism and attacks without us having any wise answer for what 7,500 Jewish (settlers) are doing among 1.2 million Palestinians (in Gaza),” Mr Olmert said.

Mr Sharon told Likud lawmakers he would modify the plan to prevent Israel “being embroiled in the most difficult circumstances”, a euphemism for an internationally-imposed peace deal he feels would require dangerous territorial handovers.

“The (referendum) result may be a tactical victory (for foes) but one that does strategic damage to Israel,” he said. “If anyone thinks for a moment that these results mean deadlock, sitting around and waiting for what will come next, they are wrong.”

Mr Sharon did not say what changes he had in mind. But Likud sources said one way of turning the tide in his party might be to vacate only some Gaza enclaves “most exposed” to violence. Mr Sharon earlier warned “difficult decisions will need to be made” in talks with his coalition cabinet and party factions. A confidant of Mr Sharon’s said he would make his first moves by Thursday.

Political sources said Mr Sharon was considering sacking his powerful hard-line Likud rival Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to campaign on the plan’s behalf. But a spokesman in Mr Sharon’s office denied this.

Mr Sharon’s plan also entails holding on to larger West Bank settlement blocs with the majority of Jews in territory captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, depriving Palestinians of swathes of land they seek for a state.