Prime Minister Ariel Sharon easily survived a no-confidence vote in Israel's parliament today, a day after his right-wing Likud party overwhelmingly rejected his Gaza pullout plan.
Leftist and Arab parties, apparently trying to capitalise on Mr Sharon's political troubles, had presented the no-confidence motion over what they called the government's "failure socio-economically and diplomatically".
Mr Sharon's party yesterday overwhelmingly rejected his US-backed Gaza pullout plan. Accepting "with regret" the results of his right-wing Likud's referendum, Mr Sharon said he intended to stay in office and defended his tactics.
"The people of Israel did not want me to sit for four years with my hands folded," Mr Sharon said. "I was elected to bring to this nation the calm, peace and security it deserves.
"I intend to continue to lead the state of Israel according to the best of my abilities, my conscience and my public obligations."
Hwoever, he gave no clear indication whether he would press ahead with a plan settlers had branded a "reward for Palestinian terror". Mr Sharon requires Cabinet approval to move ahead with the plan.
The "no" vote may have been boosted by Likud rank-and-file outrage over an ambush just hours earlier in which Palestinian gunmen killed a pregnant Jewish settler and her four daughters in the Gaza Strip.
Israel struck back swiftly, launching an air strike on a Hamas target in Gaza City. Four militants were killed by helicopter-launched missiles in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Television polls projected Mr Sharon losing by a 60 to 40 percent margin despite US President George W. Bush's endorsement of his strategy of "disengagement" from the Palestinians. An official count of one third of the ballots matched the exit polls' findings.
The outcome of the ballot in the traditionally pro-settler Likud could sideline Mr Sharon's plan and leave him vulnerable to a party leadership battle. It will also further muddy the waters of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We succeeded in persuading the Likud to remain true to its principles," said Likud cabinet minister Mr Uzi Landau, one of the leaders of the opposition to the Sharon plan.
But Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who toured the Jewish state by bus to promote the plan, said: "This move cannot be stopped just on the basis of today's vote."
The Palestinian Authority, which sees Mr Sharon's initiative as a ruse to trade Gaza for large swathes of the West Bank that they want for state, rejected the vote, saying the Likud had no right to decide on Palestinians' fate.
The Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said: "I hope this will be an incentive to go back to the right path so we can find a just and permanent solution that will ensure the establishment of a Palestinian state."