Sharon faces key party test
Likud to decide on Sharon's withdrawal plan
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Members of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing Likud party have begun voting on his plan to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
Sharon said Friday that if the referendum fails, Israel probably will face new elections.
A poll published in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz showed 43 percent of Likud votes opposed to the plan while 36 percent support it.
The plan would evacuate Israel's settlements and military posts from Gaza and to dismantle four settlements and outposts in the northern West Bank by 2005. (Full story
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In an interview with Israeli Channel 2, the prime minister said, "I put great importance on bringing peace and security. That's my promise, and therefore I will fight so that a way will be found in order to proceed with a diplomatic plan.
"If ... the plan is not passed, that will lead us to elections, new elections that would be very bad for Israel, absolutely superfluous, especially in light of our economic situation today," Sharon said.
"That would lead to a number of issues. We would lose a number of achievements that we have received. I say very clearly, first, whoever votes for the plan, supports me, whoever votes against the plan, votes against me."
President Bush has endorsed the Sharon plan. At a joint appearance at the White House on April 14, Bush said he agrees with Sharon that Israelis should pull out of Gaza.
In addition, Bush sided with Sharon on a key Palestinian demand -- the right of return to lands taken from them in 1948 -- saying Palestinians must settle in a Palestinian state, not Israel.
Bush also signaled support for Sharon's plan to keep some West Bank settlements, saying final negotiations on the West Bank must recognize that "realities on the ground" have changed.
Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt in 1967 during the Six-Day War and began building settlements soon after in those areas.
Palestinians have criticized Israel's new plan, charging Sharon is attempting to circumvent the negotiations called for in the so-called road map to Middle East peace, which is supported by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
Many Likud members side with settlers who don't want to leave Gaza, and critics have attacked Sharon for trying to make the referendum a vote of confidence in his leadership.
But Sharon is insisting his plan is best way.
"I think we must make every effort to reduce the pain and the suffering that exists," Sharon told Channel 2, referring to moving the settlers. "And I believe, in complete faith, that my plan is the only plan, with which, with the help of God, we can get to peace. This plan will lead to less casualties, less losses and less suffering."
Sharon aides have been saying publicly that even if the referendum fails, Sharon will still push the plan forward in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
Right-wing and settler parties have threatened to bolt from Sharon's coalition government. If his government falls apart, Sharon would have the option of seeking to form a new coalition or asking Israel's president to call new elections.
CNN's Yoav Appel contributed to this report.
