Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will visit the United States for talks next week after the rejection of his US-backed Gaza withdrawal plan by his own party, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today.
The main purpose of Mr Sharon's trip was to address the annual conference of the powerful pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC. But aides said he was also likely to consult with US officials on how to save his plan, endorsed by President George W. Bush.
Mr Sharon will probably meet Mr Bush, US congressional leaders and the Democratic election challenger, Mr John Kerry.
Mr Sharon's landmark plan to "disengage" from conflict with Palestinians was blocked by rightist hardliners in a referendum of Likud party membership on Sunday.
But the US-led international quartet of Middle East mediators said yesterday his plan was a "rare moment of opportunity" for regional peace and urged him to stand by it.
Jewish settlers in occupied Gaza refuse to be evacuated but opinion polls show most Israelis support getting out of the territory.
As Mr Sharon brainstormed with aides and allies to redeem his US-backed plan, Israeli forces raided three Palestinian towns in Gaza in response to the killing of a pregnant settler and her four daughters on Sunday.
Witnesses said Israeli troops who swept into Deir al-Balah killed a Palestinian police captain and wounded 15 people in clashes with stone-throwers, including six schoolchildren.
Israeli army bulldozers, flanked by tanks with helicopters overhead also demolished 10 houses in Khan Younis inner-city refugee camp and tried to root out more tunnels in Rafah camp used by militants to smuggle in arms from nearby Egypt. All three areas are bastions of Palestinian armed factions.
Military sources said another goal of the raids was to pre-empt rocket and mortar volleys into settler enclaves in Gaza, which Israel took in the 1967 Middle East war but Mr Sharon now deems a violence-ridden liability that should be evacuated.