"It will be difficult for me, but I know that it is important for the continued existence of the state,” Sharon

It was the second such bombshell in as many days, following Monday's revelation by the Prime Minister that he has ordered plans to be drawn up for the evacuation of all settlements in the Gaza Strip.

"Sharon envisages territorial exchanges with the Palestinians as part of future permanent arrangements, under which Arab Israeli localities would pass under the sovereignty of the latter, while Jewish settlements (in the West Bank) would be integrated into Israeli territory," Gissin told AFP.

Sharon himself acknowledged that the Gaza pullout would meet much opposition.

"I am talking about the Gaza Strip and I think that with a long-range view it would be better for Israel were there not to be any Jewish settlements present in the Gaza Strip," Sharon told Tuesday's Maariv daily.

"It will be difficult for me, but I know that it is important for the continued existence of the state, the continued existence of this people."

On the other hand, settlers' leaders in Gaza threatened to try to bring down Sharon's coalition government after he revealed the plans to dismantle settlements in Gaza inhabited by some 7,500 Jews among over 1.2 million Palestinians.

Sharon, who was long regarded as the settlers' champion, said that he needed to "look ahead, not backwards" and was prepared for any confrontation with his traditional right-wing supporters.

"It's complicated, there is already a second generation of settlers there, and they have children, and there are thousands of dunums of hothouses, packing plants, schools, factories, thousands of residents there, I know them closely, but I will look them in the eye," said Sharon.

One dunum is a tenth of a hectare, or around a quarter of an acre.

Meanwhile, Sharon's number two Ehud Olmert told Israeli public radio the plan to separate Israel from the Palestinians would be applicable from June or July.

"The aim of this plan is clear, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has spoken of it on many occasions: it will be applicable in four or five months, that is in June or July," the deputy Prime Minister said.

"Sharon knows that in the end, he will get the majority needed to apply the plan," Olmert added.

Sharon has warned that unless the internationally-drafted "roadmap" blueprint for peace made tangible progress, he would implement his own disengagement plan  which would see Israel evacuate a number of settlements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, while strengthening its control over others.

As well as causing outrage among settlers, his announcement on Gaza shocked members of his Likud party, but an opinion poll published Tuesday showed a large majority of Israelis in favor of a pullout from the Gaza Strip.

The poll in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily gave an approval rate of 59 percent, against 37 percent opposed to the move and seven percent of no opinion.

A total of 57 percent thought Sharon was acting for political reasons, and only 24 percent considered he was trying to distract attention from corruption accusations hanging over him.

But Infrastructure Minister Effi Eitam of the far-right National Religious Party threatened Tuesday to resign from the ruling coalition if the Prime Minister went ahead with his plan.

Maariv, meanwhile, said settlers in Gaza facing eviction could receive an average of 500,000 dollars in compensation per family.

It said the Finance Ministry director general, Yossi Beshor, has been tasked with drawing up the guidelines for compensation deals under Sharon's separation plan.

The figure could amount to half a million dollars for each of the 1,500 families, said Maariv, in an assessment based on the amounts paid to Jewish settlers evacuated from the Sinai under a 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.

The Justice Ministry's director general, Aharon Abramowitz, is to draw up the legal framework for the payments, it added.