TEL AVIV, Feb 16: A far-right Israeli minister tried to rally cabinet support on Monday for a proposal to carve Palestinian territory into isolated cantons as an alternative to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to uproot Jewish settlements.

The Palestinian Authority immediately dismissed the idea as a plot by the "extremist Israeli right" to block creation of a Palestinian state as envisioned in the US-backed roadmap.

In a fresh challenge to Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" plan among his pro-settler coalition partners, Transport Minister Avigdor Lieberman sent letters to 10 of 21 cabinet members asking them to help him draft his initiative.

An aide to Mr Lieberman said the proposal called for leaving settlements untouched and instead partitioning the West Bank and Gaza Strip into several Palestinian districts, or cantons, with civil self-government but still under Israeli military control.

"The nationalist camp must put together a unified stand," Mr Lieberman, head of the National Union Party, wrote to his cabinet colleagues. Mr Sharon's office had no immediate comment, but he was expected to flatly reject the proposal by Lieberman, whose party is one of the smaller members of the ruling coalition.

Mr Lieberman's initiative was a sign of simmering opposition to Mr Sharon's plan, announced earlier this month, to remove 17 of 21 settlements in Gaza under go-it-alone moves he has threatened to impose should peace efforts remain stalled.

Mr Sharon's proposal would also mean evacuating several West Bank enclaves and drawing a "security line" around the rest, leaving Palestinians with less land than they seek for a state.

Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war. Most of the international community regards settlements on occupied land as illegal. Israel disputes this.

Palestinians say a viable state is only possible if it is established on contiguous territory, a position backed by the United States. Opinion polls show that most Israelis support scrapping the heavily defended Gaza settlements, but Mr Sharon has faced resistance from pro-settler coalition partners.

The National Union Party, which holds seven of the ruling coalition's 68 seats in the 120-member parliament, has threatened to bolt if Mr Sharon's plan is implemented.

Mr Sharon, who has vowed to form a new government if coalition partners try to block his plan, plans to present his disengagement proposal to US President George Bush during a visit to Washington expected later this month or early next month.

Though US officials have responded favourably to the idea of evacuating settlements, Washington has made clear it will oppose any annexation of West Bank territory, Haaretz reported.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei has urged the United States to oppose unilateral moves by Mr Sharon. A visiting team of US envoys is expected to push Mr Sharon this week to change the route of a vast barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. Israel says the project is meant to stop suicide bombers. Palestinians call it a land grab. -Reuters