Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was considering calling summer elections to see off a revolt against his shock plan to evacuate all the Gaza settlers, as top aides to Sharon and Palestinian premier Ahmed Qorei sought to arrange a long-awaited summit.
Reports said Sharon had told his confidants that he will not hesitate to call elections in June or July if, lacking a majority backing in parliament for the evacuation plan, he is not able to carry it out.
Sharon is expected to travel to Washington later this month to brief US President George W. Bush on his proposals, a move which right-wing members of his coalition cabinet have warned will precipitate their resignation.
The traditionally hawkish premier has said he is determined to push through with the uprooting of the 7,500 Jewish settlers living in Gaza and his bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, is expected to travel to the United States in the next few days to lay the groundwork for Sharon's visit.
The top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily said that the Labour party, whose leader Shimon Peres has already pledged parliamentary backing for Sharon's plans, would join a national unity government after the walk-out by both the National Religious and National Union parties.
But Peres has still to declare his hand on whether he would join a government and Sharon may have little option but to call snap elections which will serve as a de facto referendum on the pullout plan which polls show is backed by a clear majority.
Palestinian officials have voiced scepticism about whether Sharon will actually see through the evacuations, but Qorei was upbeat about the plan.
"We favourably welcome any process that leads to a withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory", Qorei told journalists.
The Gaza pullout comes in the framework of a larger disengagement plan which Israel will begin implementing by July if the stalemate in the bilateral roadmap peace process continues.
Both sides have said for months that they are willing to hold talks but the two premiers have yet to meet, nearly four months after the resignation of Qorei's predecessor, Mahmud Abbas.
Weisglass and Qorei's bureau chief Hassan Abu Libdeh were to be joined by a senior advisor to Sharon, Shalom Tourdjman, and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, sources in the Israeli premier's office confirmed.
"We hope that this meeting will result in such an agreement. We are not against a summit as has been claimed. "But we want a meeting not just for the sake of it but one that will produce results."
It is thought that the Americans and Egyptians have been putting pressure on the Palestinians to come to the negotiating table and Sharon's deputy, Ehud Olmert, said Tuesday that Qorei now wanted to hold direct talks.