by Jean-Luc Renaudie
JERUSALEM, Aug 19 (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ploughed on Thursday with his plans to pull settlers out of the Gaza Strip after his party shot down his ambition to bring the opposition Labour faction into a new coalition.
And as Sharon tried to shake off the impact of a reverse at the hands of his party, his arch enemy Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was also struggling to contain a rebellion among his MPs, impatient for action rather than words on reform pledges.
"The prime minister will pursue the application of his plan with the same timetable for the withdrawal from Gaza, the contacts with the Egyptians will continue, as will the construction of the security barrier (in the West Bank)," a senior official within Sharon's office told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Sharon suffered a stunning blow to his pullout plan late Wednesday when his right-wing Likud party's convention voted in Tel Aviv against Labour joining a new broad-based coalition by 843 votes to 612.
The premier needs to bring Labour into government to achieve a parliamentary majority for his so-called disengagement plan which would see all Jewish settlers and Israeli troops withdrawn from Gaza by the end of next year.
"The prime minister will also work to put together a stable majority to continue down this road," the official said.
Sharon said before the late night result that he would not be bound by the outcome and many observers believe that despite threats to call early elections, he will push on with coalition talks with Labour.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who is likely to lose his job to Labour leader Shimon Peres if it enters government, said that the premier had no need to look to Labour.
"He has a coalition for this matter (disengagement) as well as for the budget," he said. "So this government, which by the way, has never lost a Knesset vote to this day, can continue. He can do this until the date set by law for elections in November 2006."
While the current cabinet did approve the disengagement plan in early June, the move triggered the departure of three ultra-nationalist cabinet members which robbed Sharon of his parliamentary majority.
The premier has only just scraped through a number of no-confidence motions with the help of Labour and few observers believe that he can continue this way, especially as Likud hardliners are becoming increasingly emboldened in their opposition.
Arafat only just managed to avoid his own embarrassing defeat when Palestinian deputies narrowly rejected a motion calling for a suspension of parliament until he follows through reform pledges with firm action.
A motion calling for an indefinite suspension until Arafat follows up his admission of mistakes by the Palestinian Authority with written commitments for reform was rejected by 24 votes to 23.
One of the MPs who proposed the suspension of parliament said it was a sign of frustration at foot-dragging by Arafat after his keynote speech to MPs on Wednesday.
"We tried in this session to postpone the work of the PLC as a protest against Arafat's refusal to sign any decisions after his speech yesterday," Jamal Shaati, head of the parliament's human rights committee, told AFP.
Meanwhile the Palestinians urged Washington to put pressure on Israel to halt its latest West Bank settlement drive.
Negotiations minister Saeb Erakat told senior US State Department official, Elizabeth Dibble, that plans approved this week for 1,000 new homes were in direct contravention of the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan.
"We asked the Americans to commit Israel to implement their commitments, especially on the roadmap," Erakat said.
In events on the ground, a 16-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli soldiers during an incursion in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.