JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won approval from MPs for his Gaza pullout plan but failed to close debate on his project, as ministers vowed to quit unless the issue was put to a referendum.
Deputies voted 67 to 45 in favour of the so-called disengagement plan, with seven abstentions, amid chaotic scenes that forced a recount after several ministers failed to be present for an initial count.
The vote should lead to a first ever Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory.
Under the plan, all 8,000 Jewish settlers will leave next year from Gaza, captured by Israel from Egypt during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Several hundred residents of four small Jewish enclaves in the northern West Bank will also be uprooted.
But opponents of the project and Sharon's rivals within the main governing Likud party made clear that they did not regard the battle for a referendum as over despite the outcome in parliament.
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was among the absentees from the first vote, said he had tried to change Sharon's mind beforehand and warned that he and three party colleagues would resign if the premier did not have a change of heart within a fortnight.
"If within the next two weeks, the prime minister does not agree to organise a referendum, I, and three other ministers will leave" the government, Netanyahu told Israeli television.
Netanyahu said that he was speaking on behalf of Education Minister Limor Livnat, Agriculture Minister Israel Katz and Health Minister Danny Naveh.
Sharon's victory was achieved partly through a decision by the left-wing opposition Labour and Yahad parties to support the premier, who had previously been regarded as the ultimate champion of the settler movement.
The prime minister is currently without a majority in the 120-seat Knesset after traditional allies quit in protest at his project.
Labour leader Shimon Peres said after the vote that his party "will continue to act according to the needs of peace" when asked whether his faction would continue to provide a safety net for the current coalition.
He said that those pushing for a referendum were seeking to "torpedo" the peace process.
But the National Religious Party, which is one of three parties in the coalition, warned that it would quit the government in a fortnight if Sharon did not hold a referendum.
"I am very disappointed by the result because the Knesset approved the evacuation of Jews from part of land of Israel," said NRP deputy Nissan Slomiansky, whose party is the political mouthpiece of the settlers.
"If there is no referendum, the NRP will leave the coalition within 14 days, counting from now."
According to an opinion poll published Tuesday, 65 percent of Israelis are in favour of the pullout. But Sharon is wary that his more highly motivated opponents will mobilise greater levels of support in such a ballot.
Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said Israel should now begin negotiations with his government about the pullout from Gaza.
"If the Israeli government is serious about backing the peace process, they should now return to the negotiating table with the Palestinian Authority to implement the roadmap, to discuss the idea of a withdrawal from Gaza as part of the roadmap," Erakat told AFP.
The pullout is due to be carried out on a unilateral basis after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon determined that he had no Palestinian partner in the peace process.
Israel and the Palestinians both endorsed the roadmap peace plan last year but the blueprint, which aims to create a Palestinian state next year, has run into a dead end in recent months.
Gaza, which is home to around 1.3 million Palestinians, was captured by Israel from Egypt in the 1967 Six Day War.

10/26/2004 - 20:03 GMT - AFP