MIDDLE EAST: Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip sustained a body blow yesterday when his main party rival, Finance Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, declared his support for a national referendum on the plan - a move that could delay and even torpedo a pull-out, writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem
Mr Sharon quickly announced that he was opposed to such a ballot.
In the West Bank city of Jenin, meanwhile, the Israeli military killed in an air strike three militants belonging to a group associated with Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah party.
Mr Netanyahu said he was supporting a referendum on Mr Sharon's "disengagement" plan - it calls for the evacuation of all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank - because he believed it would prevent a rift in the country.
The former prime minister, who hopes to run again for the top job, told reporters that a referendum could be "done quickly".
"It doesn't have to delay the timetable. But it will moderate the fury, and remove the objections heard from some quarters about the legitimacy of this programme."
But with Mr Sharon heading a minority coalition, the move by Mr Netanyahu is being perceived by some as an attempt to postpone the pull-out until after March.
If Mr Sharon is unable to get his budget passed by the end of March, he will be forced to go to elections. If that happens, Mr Netanyahu might challenge him for the leadership of Likud.
Mr Netanyahu voted in favour of the plan when it was passed in the government in June, but only after Mr Sharon agreed that it would be carried out in several phases, and that the government would vote on each phase before it was implemented.
Deputy Prime Minister Mr Ehud Olmert, an ally of the Prime Minister, criticised Mr Netanyahu, accusing him of trying to kill the pull-out plan and of trying to find favour with Jewish settlers who are spearheading the anti-disengagement campaign.
The three militants who were killed when an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car in Jenin belonged to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. Palestinians identified one of the dead men as Mahmoud Abu Khalifeh, the deputy head of the organisation.