MIDDLE EAST Report outlines plans proposed by Sharon

The report said Sharon will act if there is no peace progress within six months.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel will coordinate any unilateral moves in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with the United States, the Israeli foreign minister said today, after meeting with Bush administration officials who oppose any actions that will make it harder to create a Palestinian state.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to announce in a major policy speech later this week that he will take unilateral steps if there is no progress on the U.S.-led "road map" peace plan within six months, Israeli media reported today.
Unilateral moves would include the completion of a West Bank separation barrier that swallows up large chunks of the land the Palestinians seek for their state, as well as the dismantling of some Jewish settlements, said the reports, citing legislators whom Sharon briefed on his plans in recent days.
Sharon mentioned two Gaza settlements -- Netzarim and Morag -- as already being marked for evacuation, the Haaretz daily reported. Some 7,000 Israeli settlers live in Gaza, which is home to some 1.3 million Palestinians.
Sharon will stop short of annexing parts of the West Bank, to avoid further angering the United States.
Denies report
Assaf Shariv, a Sharon spokesman, denied the prime minister gave legislators names of settlements marked for evacuation. Shariv also said reports of a six-month deadline were "not accurate."
Last week, President Bush said that "Israel must be mindful ... that they don't make decisions that make it hard to create a Palestinian state."
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met Monday in Washington with Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Israel Radio said the U.S. officials urged Israel to refrain from unilateral moves.
Speaking on Israel Radio, Shalom said he told Bush administration officials that "if the road map cannot be implemented, all will be done in coordination with the United States."
Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a close ally of Sharon's who has also voiced support for unilateral action, said such moves would be painful and have to be "all-inclusive."
"It will be a move that is so painful and will cause such an internal rift that it is not worth doing unless we get the maximum benefit -- maximum separation, maximum reduction of friction with the Palestinians, and a maximum of international understanding," Olmert said at a national security conference in the city of Herzliya.
Palestinian talks
In other developments, Egyptian mediators were headed to Gaza to restart talks among Palestinian factions about a halt to attacks against Israelis, a crucial first step toward restarting peace negotiations.
The delegation was to arrive today for separate talks with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's Fatah. The team is led by Gen. Moustafa El-Bohairi and Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim.