Bowing to White House pressure, Israel intends to wait until after the US presidential election in November before uprooting Jewish settlements from Gaza, Israeli security sources say.
Israeli political sources also said that, in a further concession to his US ally, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had dropped the option of moving settlers from Gaza to the West Bank, an idea that had enraged Palestinians seeking to set up a state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
The security sources said Mr Sharon recognised the Bush administration's concern that implementing his unilateral pullout plan during the US campaign could cause political problems by fuelling instability in Palestinian areas - although Washington denied any link with the election.
Mr Sharon, battered by multiple scandals, suffered a fresh blow when an opinion poll indicated for the first time that a majority of Israelis want him to quit. A Sharon confidant blamed his woes on far-right politicians opposed to a Gaza pull-out.