Sharon cancels Washington visit

Sharon was weakened by last week's vote against his plan

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has cancelled a planned visit to Washington next week.

He was to have addressed a pro-Israeli group on the trip; aides said a meeting with US President Bush was possible.

His office gave no reason for the cancellation. It came as the Israeli cabinet met to discuss Mr Sharon's disengagement plan.

A week ago, members of his Likud party voted against the plan to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

Some Likud ministers are expected to tell their prime minister that he must water down his plan or tear it up.

Sources suggest they will insist that Mr Sharon consults them before he announces what he intends to do.

Ministers should have been voting to accept Mr Sharon's disengagement plan at the weekly Sunday cabinet meeting.

Instead they will be debating whether to proceed with the proposals at all.

The BBC's Matthew Price in Jerusalem says the Israeli prime minister was clearly weakened when he lost the Likud vote, despite firm backing for the proposal from US President George W Bush.

Roadmap push

Qurei is meeting one of Bush's top advisers next week

Perhaps sensing this, the Palestinian leadership has renewed its calls for a return to the international peace plan known as the roadmap, says our correspondent.

The Palestinians reject Mr Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, saying it is being imposed on them.

Later this month Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei is expected to meet US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice - his highest-level meeting with US officials since taking office late last year.

Mr Qurei is likely to insist Washington helps to kick-start the roadmap, which envisages a Palestinian state being set up by the end of next year.

Mr Bush told an Egyptian newspaper is would now be "hard" to achieve a Palestinian state by 2005, as the roadmap proposed when it was first unveiled.