Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon flew to Washington yesterday seeking presidential endorsement of a planned Gaza withdrawal which would go hand in hand with strengthening Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

When he meets President George W. Bush today Mr Sharon is hoping to win an agreement that he can present to hardline Israeli opponents of his "disengagement" plan as a US go-ahead to keep West Bank land that Palestinians want for a state.

Palestinians urged the United States to reject any unilateral Israeli move. It would likely inflame the Arab world and further complicate efforts to stabilise Iraq, where US forces are under daily attack from Muslim resistance fighters.

Israeli officials expect Mr Bush and Mr Sharon to exchange letters in which the prime minister will reiterate support for a US peace "road map" that has been stalled by violence while the president backs the pullout from Gaza and four isolated West Bank settlements.

The letters, a senior official on Mr Sharon's plane said, "will outline the contours of a final peace deal and state Israel's right to live along defensible borders, taking into consideration demographic realities on the ground."

Israeli officials take that phrase to mean the 120 settlements that Israel has planted in the West Bank since its capture with the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war.

But Palestinians were furious after Mr Sharon vowed on Monday that Israel would hold onto the main West Bank settlements, fuelling fears the Gaza pullout was a ruse to annex West Bank land that Palestinians also want for a state.

Mr Sharon, speaking at the biggest West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim, told settlers their homes would "continue to be built as part of Israel, for all eternity."

There are some 230,000 settlers and 2.3 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Gaza is home to 1.3 million Palestinians and 7,500 settlers in a smattering of isolated, fortified enclaves.

"Sharon is destroying any hope for peace between the two peoples," moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told reporters. He urged Mr Bush not to give Mr Sharon any guarantees that could affect eventual negotiations on the road map.

Mr Sharon needs Mr Bush's endorsement for his Gaza evacuation plan to see off strong opposition from settlers and rightist supporters in his Likud party opposed to ceding any land. The Likud holds a binding vote on the plan on May 2.

To help win over Mr Bush, five unauthorised settlement outposts in the West Bank will be torn down this week, a senior political source close to Mr Sharon told Reuters. Removing the scores of hilltop caravan outposts is a requirement of the road map, which has been derailed by violence and mutual noncompliance.

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