Sharon Firm in the Face of Settler Groups

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Sunday with leaders of the Jewish settler movement but held firm to plans for a Gaza Strip pullout that have left his former allies feeling angry and betrayed.

Sharon again rejected calls to hold a national referendum on the plan, which envisions removing settlers and soldiers from all 21 Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and four others in the West Bank by late next year.

The settlers expressed anger after the contentious, two-hour meeting, saying the prime minister appeared intent on carrying out a plan they see as precipitous. It was Sharon’s first formal session with the movement’s leaders since he spelled out his evacuation proposal early this year.

“In one word, this meeting was one big disgrace,” said Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, a spokesman for the Yesha Council, the main settlers group. “We met with an impervious prime minister who reads out texts the press wrote for him.”

“He is leading the nation to a chasm,” Mor-Yosef added.

Those opposed to the pullout have said a nationwide vote would allow the public to speak and thus reduce the chance of a violent rift in Israeli society over the controversial plan. Opinion polls show that a solid majority of Israelis supports the withdrawal.

But Sharon has said a vote would add months of delay to the evacuation, which he hopes to start by next summer. Israel has no referendum law, so legislation would first have to be passed to govern such a vote.

The prime minister plans to present his proposal next Monday to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

The plan faces opposition from a faction of Sharon’s conservative Likud Party and others on the right, but analysts say prospects for approval appear good, with support from the Labor Party and leftist parties.

Subsequent legislation would address compensation for the approximately 8,000 Israelis in the Gaza Strip, plus a few hundred others in the northern West Bank, who would be forced to leave their homes.

The withdrawal proposal has infuriated settlers, who for years idolized Sharon for his staunch promotion of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They accuse him of turning on them and acting as an autocrat by moving forward in spite of resistance from inside Likud.

Sharon lost a nonbinding vote on the pullout among members of his party in May, but pressed ahead with the plan anyway. As a result, he has alienated many Likud faithful who view the pullout as a retreat from the party’s long-standing vision of a Greater Israel that includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Sharon has said exiting the Gaza Strip would reduce tensions with the more than 1.2 million Palestinians who live there and free the army from defending the area’s Jewish settlements, which come under frequent attack by militants.

Palestinian leaders have called the move a ploy to solidify Israel’s grip on portions of the West Bank, threatening their vision of a viable Palestinian state.

A growing number of Likud figures have joined the call for a referendum out of concern over a party schism and possible unrest spurred by Jewish extremists.

Education Minister Limor Livnat pushed Sunday for a compromise under which Knesset approval would be made conditional on passage of a referendum. For their part, settler leaders would have to vow to abide by the result of any referendum.

Livnat said she outlined her suggestion during a meeting with Sharon but that he did not respond to the idea.

The Yesha Council wants Sharon to freeze all preparations for the withdrawal until a referendum, or early national elections, can be held. Regular elections are scheduled for 2006.

But Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who often speaks on the prime minister’s behalf, told Israel Radio there was no need for a referendum.

“I don’t believe anything has changed in a way that would justify the decision to hold a referendum,” he said. “I am convinced that the Knesset represents the Israeli democracy and the people’s will, and that it should make the decision.”