For Israeli Leader, Defeat Creates New Uncertainty
Monday, May 3, 2004; Page A01
JERUSALEM, May 2 -- Members of the Likud Party of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon voted in a referendum Sunday to reject his proposal to withdraw troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip, exit polls showed. The outcome was a setback for Sharon and President Bush, who had strongly endorsed the plan.
Likud voters rejected the nonbinding referendum, on what Sharon has called his disengagement plan, by a margin of almost 25 percent, according to incomplete returns. With 53 percent of the ballots counted, 61 percent of the voters opposed the plan and 38 percent cast ballots in favor. In Jerusalem, where more than half of the eligible Likud voters went to the polls, 72 percent voted against the proposal.
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The rejection of Sharon's proposal by his own party creates a new level of uncertainty in Israeli domestic politics, Israeli-Palestinian relations and the Bush administration's search for a solution to the 31/2-year conflict. It raises questions about whether Likud, which leads the government at the head of a four-party coalition, is out of step with Israelis, who in opinion surveys have overwhelmingly supported removing settlements and troops from Gaza. It also underscores the power of Israel's settlement lobby, which sent out mailings, staffed phone banks and turned out settlers at the polling stations to defeat the plan advocated by a prime minister considered the architect of Israel's settlement expansion.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60370-2004May2.html
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