Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has cancelled a visit to Washington next week that he had planned before his Likud party rejected a US-endorsed Gaza pullout, his office said today.
Mr Sharon had been scheduled to address a policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israeli advocacy group, and aides said last week a meeting with US President George W. Bush was possible.
"He has cancelled his trip," an official in Mr Sharon's office said without elaborating.
Mr Bush last met Sharon at the White House on April 14th, drawing Arab anger by coupling his endorsement of the Gaza pullout plan with a statement saying Israel could not be expected to give up all occupied land in any final peace deal with the Palestinians.
Mr Sharon's right-wing Likud party overwhelmingly rejected the withdrawal proposal in a referendum a week ago. Mr Sharon has vowed to press ahead with the plan.
Mr Bush also riled Palestinian leaders yesterday by telling an Egyptian newspaper that a 2005 target date, set by an internationally-backed peace "road map", for the creation of a Palestinian state may no longer be realistic.