Sharon looks to form Gaza coalition

JERUSALEM -- On a day in which renewed violence in the Gaza Strip caused several Palestinian and Israeli casualties, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday said he will open talks with the opposition Labor party to form a broad coalition government, a union that would give the Israeli leader much-needed support as he pushes forward with his contentious Gaza withdrawal plan.

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Sharon had been widely expected to invite Labor into the fragile Cabinet after hard-line opposition to the plan left him a minority coalition, threatening his political survival.

Meanwhile, in the worst violence since the Israeli army started an incursion into the Gaza Strip last week, soldiers yesterday killed at least seven Palestinians, and two senior Israeli officers were wounded in an attack on an army jeep.

Addressing an economic conference in the coastal town of Caesaria, Sharon told the audience that he is ''very satisfied" with his government.

''But . . . if it becomes apparent that [withdrawal] is not possible, then I will have to form a different coalition," he said, adding that he had scheduled a meeting Sunday with opposition leader Shimon Peres ''to discuss the possibility of expanding the coalition."

Peres, a veteran of Israeli politics and a Nobel Peace laureate, has sent mixed signals about his readiness to join the government. While Labor has helped Sharon by blocking attempts in Parliament to topple the prime minister through no-confidence votes, Peres has set some tough demands for joining the coalition.

Peres spokesman Yoram Dori would say only that Peres had accepted an invitation to meet with Sharon.

Government officials said Sharon was serious about the meeting, although a senior official noted that the talks were preliminary.

By September 2005, Sharon plans to pull all Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He also plans to withdraw the 7,500 Jewish settlers who live among 1.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, and residents of four isolated settlements in the West Bank.

The withdrawals are part of his unilateral disengagement plan meant to reduce friction with the Palestinians and boost Israel's security. Sharon refuses to negotiate directly with the Palestinians.

In a recent interview, Peres said he would not join the government unless Sharon agrees to negotiate the Gaza evacuation with the Palestinians and to commit to a much larger withdrawal from the West Bank.

But the two men may be willing to resolve their differences.

Peres, a former prime minister now in his 80s, is widely believed to want to return to a position of power. Sharon, meanwhile, has few options as he tries to carry out his plan.

Although a solid majority of Israelis support the plan, Sharon faces significant opposition from members in his Likud party.

Israel TV reported last night that Uzi Landau, a hard-line Likud minister opposed to the plan, has organized a meeting of 10 party legislators to block attempts to bring Labor into the government.

Yesterday, clashes continued between the army and Palestinians in Gaza.

Helicopters and armored bulldozers supported army snipers as they battled Palestinian gunmen in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, killing seven, including several local militant leaders, according to Palestinians and the army.

In the southern Gaza Strip, militants fired a missile at an Israeli jeep, wounding five soldiers, including two senior officers.