Sharon's party votes for Gaza pullout referendum

The rebellious executive of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party voted today to urge its parliamentary deputies …

The rebellious executive of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party voted today to urge its parliamentary deputies to seek a referendum on his plan to withdraw from occupied Gaza.

The Central Committee ballot pushed through by rightist hardliners opposed to the Gaza plan was non-binding and Mr Sharon's aides said it would have little impact since there is no majority in the Knesset for referendum legislation.

But the vote displayed the strength of rebels in Likud who aim to join forces with opposition rightists in the Knesset to reject the state budget in a vote later this month. Failure of the budget would force snap elections and shelve the Gaza plan.

Mr Sharon aims to evacuate all 8,500 Jewish settlers from Gaza and a few hundred of more than 230,000 from the West Bank later this year to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians.

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The plan, which would mark Israel's first pullout from lands it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians want for a state, has been touted by US-led mediators as a springboard toward final peace negotiations.

Enjoying majority support in Israeli opinion polls for his plan, Mr Sharon has rejected referendum proposals made by diehard settlers and nationalist patrons as a stalling tactic.

Mr Sharon, in a speech before the committee disrupted by chants of "Sharon go home," said he was determined to carry out his Gaza blueprint and would not bow to threats by those trying to scuttle it.

"The cabinet and parliament made decisions and these decisions will be carried out," he said, referring to recent votes, including legislation to compensate evacuated settlers, clearing to the pullout later this year.

"I will not let the extreme fringes (of Likud) dictate the way forward ... I have never yielded to threats, and there is no reason or chance that I will begin doing so now," said Sharon.