Sharon Averts Political Crisis

Ariel Sharon has headed off a political crisis that threatened to bring down his government and delay the removal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip by winning the support of the main opposition party for his budget.

The deal removes the last major legislative obstacle to the closing of all settlements in Gaza and four isolated ones in the northern West Bank. But Mr Sharon still faces a less serious threat from a vote in the Israeli parliament today on a bill requiring a national referendum to approve the pullout.

The prime minister had to rely on opposition support for the budget after almost half the MPs in his own party, Likud, said they would vote against it later this week in an attempt to force the collapse of the administration and block the "disengagement plan".

Until the weekend Mr Sharon had lacked a majority for the budget after the secular opposition Shinui party said it would oppose the government's spending plans because of large allocations to causes favoured by the religious parties. Shinui also demanded that the government pass a law allowing civil marriage.

But the prime minister put Shinui's leader, Yosef Lapid, in an almost impossible position: if he played the decisive role in bringing down the government, he risked alienating large numbers of his own supporters who strongly favour withdrawing from Gaza.

Mr Sharon refused to meet the demand for civil marriage because it would cost him the support of the religious parties, but smoothed the way for Mr Lapid by allocating an additional £100m to Shinui's favoured causes.

Mr Lapid said: "Shinui's concern that the disengagement will be implemented, combined with the opportunity to help causes close to our hearts, decided our votes."

Shinui's support will ensure the budget passes with a decisive majority. However, the government faces a further challenge today as parliament decides whether to hold a referendum on the disengagement plan.

Although opinion polls show more than two-thirds of Israeli voters back the Gaza pullout, opponents of disengagement hope a referendum will cause it to be postponed.

But Likud dissidents still lack a majority for the referendum bill. It seems likely that after a July 20 deadline the government will be free to use force to remove those settlers who refuse to leave the Gaza strip or four settlements in the West Bank of their own accord.