Sharon's Likud Party votes to rescue Gaza pull-out plan

Israel’s Labour Party was expecting a call from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to help carry out his Gaza pull-out next year, after Sharon’s Likud Party, in a crucial vote, approved bringing its traditional rival back into the government.

Despite stiff Likud opposition to the evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank, Sharon easily won party approval yesterday to start talks with Labour and Orthodox Jewish parties to form a new government that would implement his pull-out plan.