Gaza plan rejected, Sharon stays defiant

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A defiant Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he won't resign despite the humiliating rejection of his Gaza withdrawal plan, and his allies suggested the veteran tactician will look for ways to override the veto of his Likud Party.
However, Likud's resounding "no" in a referendum Sunday means Sharon's plan of "unilateral disengagement" from the Palestinians will be put on hold for now. Any of Sharon's options to win approval in a different forum, including early elections or a national referendum, would take months to prepare.
With a turnout of only half the 193,000 Likud members, 60 percent voted against the plan, leaving Sharon politically weakened. "Crushing defeat," read a headline in the Maariv daily.
Violence erupts
Sunday's voting was marred by violence. Palestinian gunmen killed a pregnant Gaza settler and her four daughters, ages 2 to 11, in an ambush on her car, firing from close range. Israel killed four Palestinian militants in the West Bank and destroyed a Hamas-affiliated radio station in Gaza in missile strikes.
Sharon lagged in the polls for several days, but analysts said the Gaza shooting attack and the low turnout gave a further boost to opponents.
The disengagement plan envisions an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, home to 7,500 settlers, and the evacuation of four small West Bank settlements by the end of 2005, along with the completion of a West Bank separation barrier.
White House
The Bush administration said it would consult with Sharon on what to do next. "The president 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," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Palestinian leaders, who have dismissed Sharon's unilateral plan as an attempt to tighten Israel's hold over large parts of the West Bank, played down Sunday's vote as an internal Israeli matter.
In Gaza, the Islamic Jihad group, which carried out the Gaza shooting along with another faction, said Israel would eventually have to leave the territory. "We are sure the enemy will flee from Gaza," said Khader Habib, a leader of the group.
More violence
Early today, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy from Beit Lahia in Gaza died from Israeli gunshot wounds suffered Saturday, hospital officials said. The boy, Khaled Abu Olba, was shot after entering a military zone, residents said.
The referendum had originally been conceived as a way to force hard-line ministers, including Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to support Sharon. With the party opposed, it is unlikely Sharon would get a majority in his Cabinet.
He could rearrange his Cabinet by bringing in the moderate Labor Party, a move that could split Likud. Labor has said it would join only if the attorney general clears Sharon in two corruption probes. The rulings are expected in coming weeks.
Sharon could also opt for early elections, three years ahead of schedule. Or he could hold a national referendum, which would require special legislation that could take months to move through parliament.
"We're in for a period of political crisis where the issue of disengagement will continue to be the central theme," said political analyst Gerald Steinberg.
U.S. relations
The vote might also strain Sharon's relations with U.S. President George W. Bush. Last month, the president went out of his way to help Sharon, endorsing the disengagement plan and giving the Israeli leader unprecedented assurances that in a final peace deal, Israel would not have to withdraw from all of the West Bank.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat demanded Sunday that Bush withdraw his guarantees. "We call on President Bush to declare that the letter of assurance he gave to Sharon is off the table," Erekat said.
Settlements mourn
In the Israeli settlements in Gaza, elation was mixed with mourning for 34-year-old Tali Hatuel and her four young daughters. Hatuel, who was eight months pregnant, was en route from Gaza to Israel when her car was ambushed.
Hatuel's husband, David, wept in front of the five graves during the funeral later Sunday in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. "I am all alone, there is no one left," he said in a whisper.
In response to the attack, Israeli troops demolished 22 homes in Gaza, 14 near the site of the shooting. The demolitions left 75 people homeless, residents said.
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, another militant group, said they killed the family to avenge the assassination of Hamas leaders by Israel last month.
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