Sharon, Under Pressure, Holds Off on Gaza Pullout

By Matt Spetalnick

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Bowing to White House pressure, Israel intends to wait until after the U.S. presidential election in November before uprooting Gaza settlements, Israeli security sources said Friday.

The sources said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recognized the Bush administration's concern that implementation of his unilateral pullout plan during the U.S. campaign could cause political problems by fueling instability in Palestinian areas.

Battered by multiple scandals, Sharon suffered a fresh blow when an opinion poll showed for the first time that a majority of Israelis want him to resign. A Sharon confidant blamed his troubles on far-right politicians opposed to a Gaza pull-out.

Israeli police, meanwhile, detained a second suspect in an investigation of an alleged three-year bombing spree by an ultra-nationalist Jew against Arabs, a plot that officials said included plans to kill leading Israeli Arab lawmakers.

The Israeli daily Maariv reported that U.S. officials had made clear in recent high-level talks in Washington that they wanted Sharon to hold off until after the U.S. election on his plan to evacuate most Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

The right-wing prime minister has been vague on the timetable for the initiative, which also calls for removing several West Bank enclaves and then drawing a "security line."

He has vowed to implement the plan if a U.S.-backed "road map" to peace with the Palestinians remains stalled.

Palestinians fear that by pursuing disengagement Israel may hope to trade Gaza for permanent control of large parts of the West Bank with major settlements, effectively depriving the Palestinians of land they want for their own state.

"UNDERSTANDING" WITH U.S.

Ahead of a trip to Washington next week, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz met Sharon Thursday and was briefed on the "understandings" reached with the White House, Maariv reported.

"The Americans don't want chaos in the Palestinian territories before the election," the Israeli source said.

U.S. envoys were also due to visit Israel next week for talks to prepare for a meeting between President Bush and Sharon in Washington in late March or early April.

The United States, Israel's chief ally, is moving toward an agreement on Sharon's unilateral plan, sources familiar with the negotiations said after talks in Washington earlier this week.

U.S. officials see the uprooting of any settlements on occupied land as a potentially positive step as it would remove points of friction between Israel and the Palestinians.

But Washington wants guarantees such moves would not constitute abandonment of the road map.

U.S. officials also want Israel to reroute its West Bank barrier that it calls a bulwark against suicide bombers and Palestinians condemn as a land grab. Israeli crews this week laid the first major section of a wall cutting into the edges of Bethlehem, revered by Christians as Jesus's birthplace.

For its part, Israel wants Washington's assurances that it will not oppose expansion of West Bank settlement blocs it hopes to annex in a final deal with the Palestinians, Israeli media have reported.

Sharon, meanwhile, was trying to weather the storms kicked up by allegations of corruption and misconduct that he denies. Much will depend on whether prosecutors now weighing criminal charges against Sharon decide to indict him in the coming weeks.

A poll in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily found that 53 percent of those surveyed believe Sharon should resign, while 43 percent want him to stay on. It was a stunning reversal for the 76-year-old leader, elected by landslides in 2001 and 2003. (Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich and Jeffrey Heller)