GAZA CITY, 20 August 2004 — A day after being rebuked by his Likud party, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday said he would push ahead with a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Likud handed him a resounding defeat on Wednesday night when it voted to bar him from negotiating a “unity” government with the Labour opposition led by Shimon Peres, Israel’s leading dove.
If Sharon defies the Likud vote as he has done before, he could provoke a schism in Israel’s largest party or risk early elections, which could stall any withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
But if he complies, he will find it hard to muster a Cabinet majority to implement his blueprint for “disengaging” from conflict with the Palestinians — even though it is backed by the United States and enjoys broad public support in Israel.
Sharon signaled his intent to keep up efforts to reshape his coalition to restore the parliamentary majority he lost over the plan, which calls for removing all soldiers and settlers from Gaza next year. “The prime minister is continuing with the disengagement,” Sharon’s office said, apparently seeking to assuage US concerns. “He will try to build a stable coalition government.”
The Labour leader, however, called for early elections, effectively scrapping talks to enter the government. Shimon Peres suggested Sharon had been too weakened by the revolt to pursue talks with the main center-left opposition.
Sources close to Sharon said he wanted to avoid early elections but that such a move could not be ruled out.
Sharon’s blueprint calls for removing 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza, where they live in 21 fortified enclaves among 1.3 million Palestinians, and closing four of the 120 West Bank settlements by the end of 2005.
— Additional input from agencies
