Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has set formal negotiations for widening Israel's shaky governing coalition, an action seen as vital for his planned withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip.
Mr Sharon's office said he summoned the main opposition Labour party, from the centre-left, and the small but influential ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), to begin talks on Sunday.
Right-winger Mr Sharon has commanded a very slim margin in parliament since losing ultranationalist coalition allies over the plan to remove all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank by the end of 2005.
Most Israelis would like to part with Gaza, where 7,500 settlers live in guarded enclaves among 1.3 million Palestinians. Israel captured the strip in the 1967 Middle East war and has been battling a Palestinian uprising for four years.
Labour yesterday authorised veteran leader Mr Shimon Peres (80) to enter coalition talks with Sharon (76) - a long time personal friend despite their polar political differences.
Labour terms are expected to include a swifter pullout and direct talks with Palestinians, who fear Mr Sharon's unilateral "disengagement" may give them back tiny Gaza only to deprive them of large swathes of the West Bank for a future state.
Labour has also taken issue with the belt-tightening budgetary policies of Likud Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr Peres said he wanted any future coalition to rest on two pillars. "The first is disengagement... The second is social justice," he told Israel Radio.
As well as the UTJ, Sharon's office said he would approach the kindred ultra-Orthodox party Shas with a coalition offer - certain to unsettle the secularist Shinui party, which is part of the current coalition.