Sharon calls for party vote over Gaza pullout plan

Sharon's request, lodged with the party Thursday night, means the vote will be held within the next three weeks under the ruling party's bylaws.

Sharon initially said he would not call for the referendum until after he returned from a trip next week to Washington, where he will meet with President Bush in an effort to garner American backing for his plan.

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But he decided to speed up the timetable to keep the momentum going from his Washington trip and to make it harder for the opposition within his hard-line party to organize, political sources said.

Sharon has said he will honor the outcome of the referendum. A recent poll showed a slim majority of Likud members supporting his proposal.

Sharon has said he will carry out his withdrawal plan, which he has yet to fully detail, if peace efforts remain stalled in the coming months.

The Palestinians fear Sharon is giving up Gaza to tighten his hold on much of the West Bank. However, they also said they welcome any withdrawal.

AFP adds: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that the United States will not punish Israel for its controversial West Bank security barrier by withholding loan guarantees as it had threatened to do last year.

Powell reiterated US concerns about the route of the barrier where it juts into Palestinian territory but said Israel had a right to construct it for self-defense and that Washington did not plan to deduct any amount of loan guarantees worth billions of dollars for the Jewish state as a result.

"Israel has the right to build a fence to protect itself if it feels that's what it needs to keep the terrorists from getting into Israel," he told a Senate appropriations subcommittee.