JERUSALEM, Oct 21 (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon looked Thursday to maximise his majority in next week's crucial parliamentary vote on his Gaza pullout plan, buoyed by predictions that he was assured of victory.
Both the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily and army radio said Sharon should secure at least 66 votes from among the 120 Knesset members when they give their verdict on his disengagement plan Tuesday after a two-day debate.
Yediot predicted that 18 MPs from Sharon's own Likud party will vote against the government.
But as well as the support of the other 22 Likud members, all 21 deputies from the main opposition Labour party, the 14-strong Shinui faction, the six MPs from the left-wing Yahad party and three independents will vote with the government, the paper added.
That figure could rise further if the 11 MPs of the main ultra-Orthodox Shas party vote also votes with the government.
Army radio also predicted that Sharon had the support of 66 MPs without giving such a detailed breakdown.
Under the terms of the disengagement plan, all 8,000 Jewish residents of Gaza will be uprooted from their homes next year along with several hundred residents of four small Jewish enclaves in the northern West Bank.
In turn Sharon is looking to strengthen Israeli control over larger West Bank settlements where the vast majority of settlers live.
The prime minister is determined to maximise his majority, aware that a resounding victory is the best way to silence critics, who have been demanding a referendum on the topic.
Sharon himself was due to hold talks Thursday with the leader of Shas parliamentary faction, Eli Yishai, in an attempt to at least persuade his faction to abstain in the vote.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz held similar talks Wednesday with Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, who was meeting with opponents of disengagement Thursday.
Yishai told public radio he was certain that Yossef, who is likely to make his position clear in a regular message on Saturday night, would "not instruct us to vote for the plan", leaving the possibility that MPs will abstain.
Sharon has been without a parliamentary majority since June after some of his former allies either quit or were sacked from government over their opposition to the pullout from Gaza, home to 1.3 million Palestinians.
Regardless of the outcome next week, Sharon is aware that his government's minority status is untenable in the long-run and that he will have to find new coalition partners.
The depth of divisions within Likud have raised the prospect of a break-up of Israel's main right-wing party, an idea reinforced Thursday by comments from Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, who told Yediot the rifts were now beyond repair.
"Those who say there will not be a split do not know what they are talking about," said Rivlin who has said he will vote against the government.
A spokesman for the settlers said that residents of the Gush Katif settlement bloc in southern Gaza would hold a series of protest rallies in Jerusalem Tuesday, adding that schools, shops and offices would be shut to allow as many demonstrators as possible to converge on the parliament.
In events on the ground, two Palestinian militant were shot dead by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
The pair, followers of Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, were killed while on a mission to attack an army post at a checkpoint to the east of Gaza City, the armed factions said in a joint statement.
Israeli security sources also said an Israeli had been killed in an explosion in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. There was no immediate confirmation of his identity.