Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged today to see through his controversial plan to withdraw troops and settlers from Gaza despite kicking his last remaining coalition partner out of government.
'The disengagement plan will be implemented. Period,' Sharon told a press conference in Tel Aviv. Mr Sharon was speaking a day after he sacked the secular Shinui party's five ministers from the coalition, leaving him with the theoretical support of only 40 MPs from his own Likud party in the 120-seat parliament.
It is reported that Sharon is now trying to bring the main opposition Labour party and the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism faction into the fold after his dismissal of Shinui.
The party's departure from government became inevitable after it voted against the first reading of a budget bill on Wednesday night, contributing to a humiliating 69-43 defeat for the government.
