Sharon told Likud parliamentarians he would visit
Washington in late March to seek U.S. support for unilateral
moves to separate Israel from the Palestinians, as a
U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan remains stymied by persistent
violence.
"The 'Disengagement Plan' is a first stage that will ensure
that most residents of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) will
remain under Israeli rule," Sharon said.
Dissent within Likud and its ultra-nationalist allies in
the ruling coalition surfaced later when Sharon escaped defeat
in a no-confidence motion over the initiative by a single vote.
The vote of 45 for and 46 against the motion was symbolic
as the opposition needed to muster 61 votes to topple the
government, but it was politically embarrassing for Sharon.
A deputy from the far-right National Union party backed the
no-confidence vote and three Likud members stayed away.
Sharon warned Likud deputies that if they did not back him,
Israel risked losing all of its more than 120 settlements in
the occupied West Bank. "If you don't permit me to do this then
we will lose this as well," he said.
Sharon's plan has angered Israeli right-wingers, but raised
Palestinian concern that Israel could deny them a viable state
by dumping tiny Jewish enclaves in Gaza but declaring their
control of large West Bank settlements permanent.
Sharon has said the Palestinians would get less land under
his plan then under a treaty based on the "road map."
U.S. KEEN TO PRESERVE ROAD MAP
The United States has frowned on any such trade-off for
fear it would undermine its "road map," which envisages a
Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel.
Washington has given tentative backing to Sharon's Gaza
plan but indicated it would not support moving Gaza settlers to
the West Bank as suggested by leaks from Sharon's office.
In his briefing to Likud lawmakers, Sharon said he needed
U.S. backing to push through the Gaza plan and this would
determine the extent of any settlement evacuation.
The initiative, which is still being drawn up, was shown to
three U.S. envoys sent by President Bush (news - web sites) last week.
Sharon has said his plan will proceed if road map talks
prove impossible, a judgment he will make in the next few
months.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin welcomed the
Gaza plan, telling a news conference in Brussels that it could
be the "electric shock" needed to restart peacemaking.
"Gaza has to be the first step. It must be put in the
broader framework of the road map and it must be integrated
into the negotiated peace plan," Villepin said.
Sharon aides have said that if he gets the green light from
Bush when he visits Washington, a Gaza evacuation could begin
later this year.
