TEL AVIV, April 29: Scrambling to avert an embarrassing defeat, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned his divided Likud on Thursday it would undermine him and wreck the party if it rejects his Gaza pullout plan.

Mr Sharon raised the political stakes, depicting Sunday's Likud poll on his "disengagement" plan as a vote of confidence in his leadership of the right-wing party, as opinion surveys for the first time showed him losing the crucial ballot.

He predicted victory, but also warned hardline party members, many of whom oppose the proposed Gaza withdrawal, that a defeat could topple the Likud-led government. "You cannot be for me but against the plan I am spearheading. Whoever believes in me must vote for the disengagement plan," he told Israel's Army Radio.

"Otherwise it will be a victory for (Palestinian President Yasser) Arafat and (the militant group) Hamas and will ultimately bring about Likud's downfall," he added. Trying to counter intense lobbying against the plan by Jewish settlers, the right-wing premier also warned of possible damage to Israel's vital ties to the United States, which endorsed his plan for a unilateral Gaza pullout.

"I don't want to think what, heaven forbid, would happen...to the economy, the markets," he told Israel Radio in remarks directed at 193,000 "Likudniks" who will vote on whether to uproot all Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank.

Justice Minister Yosef Lapid told Channel Two television his centrist Shinui party would reconsider its participation in the government if the plan was cancelled, chances for peace were shattered and ties with Washington deteriorated.

Mr Sharon says a Gaza pullout would improve Israel's security after three years of fighting with Palestinians. But many in the traditionally pro-settler Likud oppose ceding any land captured in the 1967 war and have branded the proposed pullout a "reward for terror". -Reuters