Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres promised to spread a political safety net under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to help him survive any revolt by coalition allies opposed to his Gaza settlement evacuation plan.  

"We are prepared to support the government even without being in it, as long as it is on the path to peace," Peres, 80, said on Tuesday after his center-left Labor Party voted to keep the veteran dove as chairman through 2005.

Under that scenario, Labor would back Sharon, leader of the right-wing Likud, in parliament should pro-settler parties in his cabinet try to topple him over his dramatic plan to uproot 17 of the 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie described Sharon's proposal as "good news" and called for Israel to quit all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas Palestinians want for a state.

Sharon stunned friends and foes alike when he revealed on Monday details for an extensive pullout from Gaza, where 7,500 settlers occupy 21 percent of the land and tie up army regiments guarding enclaves scattered among about a million Palestinians.

"I said what I said. And what I said I intend to implement because I believe this is what is necessary today for Israel in the coming years. I know it is difficult, but I have made this decision," Sharon told reporters.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Sharon's moves could tear apart the coalition and lead to elections before the government's term ends in 2007.

Old friend and foe

Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said implementation could begin this summer under a disengagement that Sharon has threatened if a stalled US-backed peace "road map" with the Palestinians collapses.

Sharon has said such moves would leave Palestinians with less land than they seek for a state. The prime minister, planning a visit to Washington later this month, said he would seek US approval and financial aid to "relocate" the settlers.

Peres, an architect of interim peace accords with the Palestinians, last joined forces with Sharon -- an old personal friend -- in the Likud leader's first government in 2001.

Crushed by Sharon in last year's election, Labor has 19 legislators in the 120-member parliament and could counter-balance moves by Sharon's ultranationalist and religious allies to unseat him in no-confidence votes.

Sharon's coalition controls 68 seats.

Despite the brewing political crisis, a poll in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily showed 59 percent of Israelis supported uprooting Gaza settlements. Thirty-four percent opposed the idea.

Sharon said an evacuation would take one to two years and include removal of three of the more than 120 settlements in the West Bank.

Some of Sharon's critics suggested he was trying to distract attention from a widening corruption probe focusing on him and his family. Sharon, expected to be questioned again by police on Thursday, denies any wrongdoing.

(China Daily February 4, 2004)