Sharon 'plans to scrap roadmap'

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans eventually to scrap a US-led "road map" to peace with the Palestinians and instead seek Washington's blessing for annexing occupied West Bank land, a newspaper said on Monday.

The report by senior staff of Maariv newspaper gave no source, but Sharon's initial plans for last year's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip were first floated in a similar way.

Sharon's spokesman declined comment, while a senior Israeli political source dismissed the report as "pure speculation".

A senior Palestinian official said he doubted whether the United States or the European Union would endorse the plan described by Maariv.

The paper said Sharon, who is up for re-election in March, would argue that Israel was justified in abandoning the peace plan and setting borders unilaterally because of the failure of the Palestinians to crack down on militant groups.

The Maariv report said Sharon would go public with his new plan after Palestinian parliamentary elections this month, when Israeli intelligence has predicted a new outbreak of violence.

Meanwhile, four ministers of the right-wing Likud party look set to pull out of Israel's governing coalition in a matter of days after they agreed on Monday to let new leader Benjamin Netanyahu set a departure date.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Education Minister Limor Livnat, Agriculture Minister Israel Katz and Health Minister Danny Naveh had previously resisted pressure to leave Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet.

But after a meeting on Monday in Tel Aviv with Sharon's arch rival Netanyahu, who himself resigned as finance minister back in August, they agreed to give him the power to decide on their fate.

"We held discussions and decided to leave it to Netanyahu to decide when to resign," Livant told reporters.

"The decision is a demonstration of the unity within the ranks of Likud."