Sharon to stay in Likud

Sharon returned Monday buoyed from a visit to the U.N. under unusual circumstances for an Israeli leader - international praise over the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank last month - but came home to a political dogfight aimed at removing him from the Likud leadership.

The prime minister is expected Tuesday to try minimize the political damage he suffered as a result of his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, which opponents in the Likud strongly denounced, by holding the first of three scheduled meetings with party supporters ahead of next week's Likud Central Committee convention. 

Angry members are expected to begin proceedings to push up party primaries, in a bid to remove Sharon from party leadership.

Warding off challenge

Sharon's decision to clarify his intention to stay in the Likud was taken following several days of rumors he would leave the party he helped create more than 30 years ago.

The rumors have hurt Sharon's efforts to thwart a push by party rivals Benjamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau to push up party primaries to challenge Sharon for the party leadership. 

While Sharon has trying to put the brakes on his eroding hold on party leadership, his Likud rivals have joined forces to try to convince the central committee to push up the primaries.

Meanwhile, however, only one week remains before a committee meeting that promises to be stormy.

During that time, Sharon is expected to host hundreds of supporters in his office in Jerusalem, and will encourage them to attend next week's convention to bolster the prime minister.

At the same time, Sharon is expected to warn supporters about pushing up party primaries this far ahead of the next scheduled elections, and to tell them it makes no sense to shorten the Likud's term in office.

No campaigning for Sharon

Sharon's security detail has decided to prevent the prime minister from campaigning amongst the party faithful ahead of the vote, due to the prohibitive cost of securing such a move and because of the forces' inability to monitor activists who will attend party meetings in different locations.

Instead, the Sharon camp will set up a headquarters aimed at encouraging supporters to show up for the convention to vote.

Around the prime minister, activists are gathering strength from a new political deal between Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to counteract the joint Netanyahu-Landau attempt to remove him.

For his part, principal challenger Netanyahu is expected to convene supporters in Haifa, and will likely continue pushing to topple Sharon until the last possible minute.