Palestinian PM urges US to reject Sharon's plan

Palestinians fear Sharon is planning to remove settlements from Gaza only to strengthen other settlements in the West Bank.

"It will be regrettable if the American administration supports unilateral steps," Qurie told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah after a Palestinian cabinet session. He said he would be "worried and upset" by such a decision.

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Opinion polls show that the surprise proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to remove 17 of the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip has overwhelming support among Israelis.

The Palestinian cabinet demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territories to immediately follow any Gaza pullout.

"The cabinet reiterates its rejection to the idea of moving settlers (from Gaza) to the West Bank," a cabinet statement said. It said the cabinet urged Washington to stick to supporting a US-backed "road map" peace plan.

Palestinians and the international community regard Jewish settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this.

Diplomats said on Friday Washington would send envoys to Israel next week for talks before deciding whether to back Sharon's settlement proposal -- part of a go-it-alone plan he has vowed to impose on the Palestinians if the road map remains stalled.

Sharon, long an advocate of settlement-building on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, has made clear his unilateral plan would leave Palestinians with less territory than they are seeking for a state.

Palestinian and Israeli officials had been due to meet on Sunday to prepare for a long-awaited summit between Sharon and Qurie, but Israel postponed the meeting on Saturday because of a snowstorm in Jerusalem and the West Bank, a Sharon spokesman said.