Sharon looks to Bush to help win over Likud

ISRAEL: Advisers to Israel's prime minister were deep in discussion last night with their US counterparts over the wording of a presidential letter endorsing Israel's plan to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and a portion of the West Bank.

Mr Ariel Sharon is deeply troubled by the prospect that his own Likud party will reject his withdrawal plan.

Mr Sharon, who was meeting in Washington last night with the US National Security Adviser, Dr Condoleezza Rice, is to meet President Bush at the White House today, and hopes the presidential wording will help win over his divided Likud.

The prime minister has promised to be bound by the result of a referendum on the disengagement plan among the 200,000 members of his governing Likud party, which is now to be held on May 2nd. The vote was originally scheduled for April 29th, but was postponed yesterday because that date coincides with a major European basketball match involving Israel's top club, Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The postponement is indicative of the prime minister's concern. His fear was that while opponents of his plan would be sufficiently motivated to tear themselves away from the basketball to come out and vote, his supporters might not be equally energised.

In a speech before his departure for Washington, at the largest of all West Bank settlements, Ma'aleh Adumim, on Monday night, the prime minister asserted that his vision of a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and a smaller pullback in the West Bank, represented the only initiative that would "guarantee the security and political interests of Israel".

Referring by name to a series of the largest settlements, the prime minister declared that his plan would enable Israel to maintain and develop such cherished areas. "Only an Israeli initiative will keep the major settlement blocs strong," he said.

Palestinian officials say they fear that Mr Sharon's plan, which he has indicated would be implemented over the next year, is intended to ensure that Israel maintains control over most of the West Bank for the foreseeable future.

Mr Sharon and his supporters would like to convey much the same impression to Likud members - to persuade them that his vision barely contradicts the party's official position, which rejects Palestinian statehood anywhere in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The US has indicated concern that a unilateral Israeli pullout would be perceived as a victory for Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups. Mr Bush is nonetheless certain to endorse Mr Sharon's plan, while stressing that no unilateral actions should contradict the internationally backed "road map" peace framework.

Meanwhile, Israeli police announced that no fewer than 10 suicide bombings of Israeli targets were thwarted over the past week's Passover holiday, including two by female bombers and one involving a device featuring blood infected with HIV. The "AIDS bomb" plot was reportedly acknowledged by one of two members of a Fatah-affiliated group held two weeks ago.

Sharon's unilateral gamble is bold but risky: page 12

Editorial comment: page 13