Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is vowing to press on with his plan to pull Israeli settlers and soldiers out of the Gaza Strip despite his party's rejection of a partnership with the pro-withdrawal Labour Party.

"The prime minister is continuing with the disengagement and the diplomatic process," Sharon's office said. "He will find a solution to the problem. He will try to build a stable coalition government."

Sharon's rebellious right-wing Likud party voted yesterday to bar him from forging a coalition with the centre-left Labour opposition led by Shimon Peres.

But the motion sponsored by rightist hardliners at a Likud convention in Tel Aviv was non-binding and Sharon had signalled he would soldier on with his blueprint to "disengage" from a chronic conflict with the Palestinians.

Sharon's plan entails removing 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza, where they live in fortified enclaves among 1.3 million Palestinians, and closing four of the 120 West Bank settlements, but does not involve giving up larger West Bank enclaves with most of the 240,000 settler population.

In June, Sharon could only get cabinet backing "in principle" for the plan, and only after some mutinous far-right partners defected or were sacked.

Their exit stripped him of his parliamentary majority, forcing him to negotiate with Labour.

Polls show most Israelis favour evacuating Jewish settlers from Gaza, regarding the coastal strip as a bloody liability.-Reuters