In quotes: Reaction to Likud vote

The US and UK are still backing Sharon's plan

Israelis, Palestinians and the wider world have been reacting to the resounding defeat of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan in a Likud Party referendum.

Here is a selection of their comments:

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Likud cabinet minister Uzi Landau, who led opposition to the plan:

What we now have to do is to pull ourselves together once more after having these few months of internal debate and come to grips with the reality. Which means, simply, that the largest part of Israel think that this plan was a mistake and we will have to take another one.

I believe this whole referendum was not about confidence in the prime minister. We all appreciate him highly. The referendum was about the nature of this disengagement plan that we think is highly risky for Israel, too risky. So the prime minister will continue to lead us.

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Likud faction chairman in the Knesset, Gideon Sard:

I think that the Likud today said no to a certain plan, but it didn't say no to compromises in a bilateral context, for example. So this is the correct way to understand the results.

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Former Labour Party spokesman Uri Dromi:

I'm surprised, because he's such an experienced and smart politician, that [Mr Sharon] led himself into such a trap. He should have gone ahead with this and then brought it to the Knesset. It's the same thing that Menachem Begin did, when he went and had a deal with Anwar Sadat and then he came back to the Knesset, and that's the way things should be done.

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Likud Party member Gila Gamaliel:

Ariel Sharon promised all of the citizens in Israel, he said it clearly that he is committed, that he must respect the result of the Likud members. He said it clearly and I believe that our prime minister will respect our decision today.

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Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon:

[Mr Sharon] has to respect the majority of his members. Likud is the biggest party in the Knesset, they have 40 members. The whole situation now has changed. Even those members in the Knesset or in the cabinet that were pro- and wanted the disengagement plan now are against because of those results, and because of the fact that they respect the institutions - and that's part of the democracy system - and we are proud that we have this kind of system.

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Settler Moishe Sapperstein:

What we did was we won a battle today. But we are very far from winning the war and just as we knocked ourselves out to get this far, we have to continue.

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Shinui Party leader Tommy Lapid:

They forget these aren't national elections, but a vote in Likud, and the Likud is not the people of Israel. We demand this issue be brought for discussion before the cabinet and parliament... The Likud will not determine the fate of the nation.

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Palestinian Labour Minister Ghassan Al-Khatib:

This referendum that has been finished in Israel does not carry any significance from a Palestinian perspective. Simply because it doesn't make any difference from the stand-point of the peace process. It's neither going to bring us nearer to the peace process nor is it going to help move towards ending the occupation.

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Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Saeb Erekat:

To us today, as Palestinians as we were sitting today watching the Likud people and members voting on what? On my future. My life. My children's future. And my children's life, determining my own future. This is absolutely unprecedented. Now I hope this will be an eye-opener for Mr Bush and Mr Blair to bring Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table.

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Likud Knesset member Yuval Steinitz:

It is very frustrating, especially for me because I did support this unilateral withdrawal, or disengagement in Gaza. I thought that it might be helpful, both to Israel and to the Palestinians in Gaza. But you know this is the price of democracy, that the leader, even prime ministers, are not omnipotent. And sometimes they are heavily restricted by resistance in the home party, or the parliament and that's exactly what happened today.

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Islamic Jihad official Khader Habib:

The Israelis will leave Gaza. This is a fact that they will reach sooner or later. They will get to this fact when they lose much of their people's blood.

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White House spokesman Scott McClellan:

We have been informed of the results of the Likud voting. Our own view has not changed: The president welcomed Prime Minister Sharon's plan to withdraw settlements from Gaza and a part of the West Bank as a courageous and important step toward peace. We will be in consultation with the prime minister and the government of Israel about how to move forward.

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British Foreign Office statement:

The vote in Israel was a domestic matter for the Likud Party. Our position remains unchanged. The Prime Minister [Tony Blair] made a statement on 19 April where he said he welcomed the Israeli proposal to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. The roadmap remains the best way to peace and disengagement from the occupied territories can be an opportunity to return to it.

If he has been defeated, it's not for us to suggest where he goes from there. The point is that the best way to peace is through the roadmap.