Sharon 'won't bow to threats'

2005-03-04 07:58

Tel Aviv - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Thursday his planned pullout from Gaza would go ahead regardless of domestic opposition, as his right-wing Likud party voted to call for a referendum on the plan.

"Government and parliament have made difficult decisions. They will happen," he told a Likud central committee meeting in Tel Aviv, moments before members voted by a majority show of hands for a referendum on the pullout.

Sharon has flatly refused to hold a national plebiscite on the withdrawal and urged central committee members not to back the resolution, which is non-binding on the Israeli premier.

"I have never bowed to threats and I won't do so today," said Sharon.

Once seen as the ultimate champion of the Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian land, Sharon vowed that settlement activity would continue in the West Bank and Jerusalem despite his intentions in the Gaza Strip.

"Thanks to settlement, we will forever keep our big positions, essential to our existence," he said, listing them as "our capital Jerusalem", "settlement blocs in the most sacred places of our history" and "the main security zones for our defence".

The Likud resolution calls on Likud MPs to demand a parliamentary vote on a bill calling for a national plebiscite on the plan.

- AFP