ISRAEL: With three opinion polls predicting defeat for Ariel Sharon in the Likud party referendum on Sunday on his Gaza withdrawal plan, the prime minister yesterday called the ballot a vote of confidence in him and warned of dire consequences for the country if his plan did not pass.
"You can't be for me, but be against my plan," he said in a radio interview.
If a majority of the almost 200,000 members of his ruling Likud party vote No, he said, it would also be "the biggest victory for Arafat and Hamas," and could ultimately result in his party losing power.
He added that he did not want "to think what will happen to the economy, the stock markets".
Support for Mr Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan - it includes withdrawal from all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank - is high among the general public, but over the last 10 days it has slid dramatically inside his own centre-right party.
A poll released last night by the daily Haaretz found 43 per cent of Likud members against the plan and 36 per cent in favour. A survey published by the paper just over a week ago found 44 per cent in favour and 39 per cent opposed.
A survey in the mass circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth showed an 8 per cent gap in favour of opponents of the plan, while the daily Maariv gave opponents a 3 per cent advantage.
Concerned by the poll numbers, Mr Sharon yesterday called an emergency meeting of his close aides.
He also launched an indirect attack on the settlers, once among his staunchest supporters but who are now battling him bitterly over his withdrawal plan.
If his plan were defeated, the Israeli leader said, "it will worsen our relations with the US and bring about the fall of the Likud - that is the extreme right's plan. It is inconceivable that an outside group should lead the Likud."
"I don't want to think what, heaven forbid, would happen ... to the economy, the markets," Mr Sharon told Israel Radio.
The increasing likelihood of a defeat for Mr Sharon has fuelled speculation about his political future. But his senior aides yesterday played down the possibility that he might resign if his plan failed to pass in the party referendum.
Justice Minister Mr Yosef Lapid told Channel Two television that his centrist Shinui party would reconsider its participation in the government if Mr Sharon's plan was cancelled, the chances for peace were shattered and ties with Washington deteriorated.