Israeli Knesset (parliament)'s Law, Justice and Constitution Committee yesterday voted 9-8 in favor of a bill to hold a national referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.

Sharon opposes a referendum, calling it a delaying tactic.

The bill will be presented to the Knesset plenum for approval, although it seems unlikely to win majority support.

The committee approval of the bill followed fierce in fighting in Sharon's ruling Likud party, which is sharply divided over his plan to evacuate all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank.

Sharon's coalition holds 67 of 120 seats in the Knesset but his margin has been jeopardized by the threat of about a dozen Likud rebel deputies to reject the 2005 state budget in protest at the disengagement plan.

Under a compromise, Likud rebels agreed to back the budget in Knesset's Finance Committee in return for support from pro-Sharon Likud lawmakers in the Law Committee for the bill to hold referendum on the Gaza pullout plan.