Sharon defiant after Gaza defeat

Critics say the poll was a tactical mistake for Sharon

The Israeli prime minister says he will not resign despite a decisive rejection by his own party of his plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip.

Final results show that 59.5% of the governing Likud party voted against Ariel Sharon's proposals.

Mr Sharon said he would "respect" the outcome of the vote but indicated he might not be ready to drop his plans.

Palestinian gunmen killed a pregnant Jewish settler and her four young daughters during Sunday's vote.

Some analysts said opposition to Mr Sharon's plan may have been boosted by the killings.

Mr Sharon's proposals call for Israeli troops and all 7,500 Jewish settlers to leave the Gaza Strip, with only a military presence left along the border with Egypt.

Serious setback

Following Sunday's vote, Mr Sharon said: "I receive the results of the vote with sorrow but I will respect them."

From this morning on, it is the Likud against the people Commentator in Yediot Aharonot newspaper Mid-East press review

However, he refrained from declaring his Gaza plans dead.

"The Israeli people did not elect me to sit on my hands for four years," he said.

Polls have shown that the country at large supports his proposals.

The prime minister said he would consult Likud and its coalition partners in the coming days.

Israeli press reports said Mr Sharon was expected to meet the Likud faction in the country's parliament, the Knesset, on Monday afternoon.

The White House said on Sunday night that it stuck by its support for Mr Sharon's Gaza plan.

Israeli media are calling the result of the Likud vote one of the worst setbacks in Mr Sharon's long career.

The BBC's James Reynolds in Jerusalem says Mr Sharon is in a mess of his own making after decisively losing a tactical gamble.

Our correspondent says the prime minister is now expected to go ahead and present his disengagement plan to his cabinet and the Knesset, but his coalition may break up along the way.

'Israel bigger than Likud'

Turnout was reported to be as low as 35%.

Uzi Landau, the Likud cabinet minister leading the opposition campaign, said it was time to come up with an alternative to the "highly risky" disengagement plan.

"The largest part of Israel thinks that this plan was a mistake and we will have to take another one," he said.

However, Tommy Lapid, whose Shinui Party is part of the governing coalition, said Likud could not determine the fate of the nation and demanded the issue be discussed in cabinet.

Uri Dromi, a spokesman under the former Labour government, said he had backed Mr Sharon's plan and accused the prime minister of making a tactical mistake.

"He should have gone ahead with this and then brought it to the Knesset," he told the BBC's Newshour programme.

The Palestinian Authority, which believes Mr Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza will lead him to harden his position on the West Bank, responded to the Likud vote by saying that the party had no right to decide on Palestinians' fate.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said the poll result should act as an incentive to resume negotiations about Palestinian statehood.