MIDDLE EAST: Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon won a vote last night inside his ruling Likud party that was critical to his chances of implementing his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next year.
The internal party vote in the powerful 3,000-strong Likud Central Committee was called to determine whether Mr Sharon could engage in coalition negotiations with the centre-left Labour Party, which strongly backs his plan to evacuate all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank. While Labour will meet on Sunday to decide when to hold leadership primaries, its entry into government now seems almost certain.
"Either Israel progresses or goes to [ general] elections," Mr Sharon said as he arrived yesterday at the Exhibition Grounds in Tel Aviv where the vote took place. The proposal to hold coalition talks with Labour won around 60 per cent support.
With his ruling coalition having fallen apart, a defeat last night for Mr Sharon would have spelled early elections and the possible derailing of his Gaza plan. But now he can invite Labour to join his government, along with at least one of the ultra-Orthodox parties, and move ahead with his plan to unilaterally pull out of the Strip. Last week the centrist Shinui party exited the government over the budget, leaving the Israeli leader with 40 seats in the 120-seat parliament
In August, the Likud Central Committee blocked Mr Sharon from holding coalition negotiations with Labour. But with elections now the alternative to a government with the centre-left party, members reversed their earlier position. They might have been persuaded, in part, by opinion polls indicating that the Likud will drop several seats if elections were held now.
Mr Sharon will now focus on coalition talks with Labour leader Mr Shimon Peres, who is anxious to enter government in an effort to ensure the Gaza withdrawal proceeds.