Minister trying to save Sharon govt

Talks between Immigration Minister Tzipi Livni, a Sharon ally spearheading mediation efforts, and three ministers from their right-wing Likud party opposed to the withdrawal proposal were due to resume later in the day, government officials said.

"I certainly think there's a chance until the (cabinet) vote Sunday," Livni told Israel Radio.

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Sharon fired two ministers belonging to the far-right National Union Friday, ensuring at least an 11-10 majority in the cabinet when it votes on the US-backed plan to remove all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank.

But Likud could split and a key member of his government, the National Religious Party (NRP), might bolt. That would leave Sharon without a parliamentary majority and possibly facing an early election unless Livni can work out a compromise.

Under her proposal, the cabinet would approve the Gaza plan "in principle" while agreeing to hold off on any settlement evacuation until a second vote was held in six to nine months.

The watered-down language and a deal Livni has been trying to achieve on the level of government funds for building in settlements slated to go could be key to keeping the pro-settler NRP in the coalition, for now, and ending the Likud rebellion.

"The main problem that needs to be resolved for a compromise to be reached is the continuation of construction in settlements due to be evacuated," Livni told YNet, the Web site of Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

A political source said a deal could be reached to fund "essential construction," but Sharon was wary of giving the nod for broad expansion of settlements he plans to uproot.