The Likud rejection is the most serious setback Sharon suffered since he assumed office (AFP)

TEL AVIV, May 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Despite a heavy blow to his controversial “disengagement” plan, which was overwhelmingly rejected by his Likud fellowmen, defiant Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to stay in office.

“I intend to continue to lead the state of Israel the best way I know how, in accordance with my conscience and public duty. It is not an easy task - but I intend to carry it out,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted defeated Sharon as saying.

The poll results, announced late Sunday, May 2, on Israeli Public Radio, showed that a total of 59.5 percent of the 96,700 Likud members who cast votes rejected the scheme, as against just 39.7 percent who approved it.

The heavy “no” vote provides Sharon with a major political headache despite an earlier statement that he would press on with the plan regardless of the vote result.

About 40 percent of the Likud's 193,000 members turned out for the crucial vote.

The rejection by his own party of the plan he spent most of the past several months promoting is one of the most serious setbacks Sharon has suffered since taking office as Prime Minister in March 2001.

The centerpiece of his U.S.-backed “disengagement” plan is the removal of all existing 21 Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

Currently some 8,000 Jewish settlers live in the Strip, alongside 1.5 million Palestinians.

The plan is seen by the Palestinians as a land grab as it calls for holding on to larger West Bank settlement blocs containing the majority of Jews on territory Israel has occupied for the past 37 years.

‘Only Option’

Left-wing Israelis demand Sharon to stick to his plan (AFP)

However, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza Strip remained Israel's “only option.”

Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, of the secular party Shinui party, also deplored the referendum result.

“This is the victory of a small group of extremists,” he said. “I was dreaming of a coalition with Labour, Likud and Shinui. Now this dream could be history.”

Sharon had warned that he considered the referendum chiefly a “moral duty” - not legally required or binding - and that he would press on with the Gaza withdrawal even if Likud members voted it down.

Now he could seek the general public's endorsement of his plan or submit it to the Knesset.

Few commentators expected the hard-nosed Prime Minister to resign as the Labour-led opposition demanded early elections.

Before the poll’s results, three key ministers of Sharon’s cabinet spurned the plan, which augured ill for Sharon.

U.S. Support

The United States, Sharon's major ally, voiced the hope that the Premier would go ahead with his plan despite the defeat.

“Our own view has not changed: The President [George W. Bush] welcomed Prime Minister Sharon's plan to withdraw settlements from Gaza and a part of the West Bank as a courageous and important step toward peace,” the White House said in a statement.

Bush endorsed Sharon’s unilateral approach on April 14, adding that it was “unrealistic” that Israel return now to the 1948 armistice lines.

He coupled that with written guarantees to Sharon over his plan, assurances that saw that “a fair solution to the Palestinian refugee issue should be found through a Palestinian state rather than in [what now is] Israel".

Negotiations

The Palestinian Authority was swift to call anew to resume negotiations following the rebuff of Sharon’s plan, which he claimed he had to draw up in the absence of a suitable negotiating partner on the Palestinian side.

Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei hoped in statements to Reuters news agency that the results would serve as an “incentive” to put the moribund peace process back on track.

He said the Likud rejection was “expected” because the plan was not negotiated with the Palestinians.

Qorei also called for holding an international conference to inject new life into the internationally-backed ‘roadmap’ for Middle East peace.

But Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erekat predicted that the humiliating defeat suffered by Sharon could prompt him to scale down his withdrawal from the flashpoint Gaza Strip.