By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
May 02, 2004
Exit polls Sunday night indicated Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to uproot Jewish Gaza had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Likud Party members.
Sharon subjected his plan to an internal Likud referendum in order to prove he had majority support for his intention to evacuate Israeli settlements in Gaza and Samaria.
It backfired on him.
Israel Channel One News showed the greatest margin of defeat, with 62 percent of voters rejecting Sharon’s plan, while only 38 percent voted in favor.
A previously confident Sharon began to sound a more cautious note already at the weekend, after newspaper polls suggested his plan would not pass the referendum.
But an aide to the prime minister told the media Sharon would go forward with his plan regardless of the referendum’s outcome.