Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new coalition government was sworn in today after winning parliamentary approval, bringing Israel a crucial step closer to implementing a withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip.
Knesset lawmakers voted 58 to 56 in favour of the alliance between Mr Sharon's Likud party, opposition Labour and a small but influential religious faction United Torah Judaism, according to a final tally. The first count found 55 lawmakers voting against.
The new "national unity" government, which gives Mr Sharon a parliamentary majority he lost last year in a spat with ultranationalist coalition partners, was sworn in after the vote.
