Israel's Sharon Backs Off A Little

Trying to reassure hawkish coalition partners, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday he will seek parliament's approval for a possible unilateral troop pullback in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Sharon also told parliament he would consult with coalition members and the United States before deciding on unilateral measures.

However, he said nothing about Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories.

Parliamentary approval for Sharon's so-called plan of disengagement from the Palestinians would not be assured.

Many members of his center-right coalition oppose a withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the dismantling of any Israeli settlements there. The moderate opposition parties might support the removal of settlements, but have also accused Sharon of trying to impose a boundary on the Palestinians.

In his speech to parliament Monday, Sharon did not refer to the possible dismantling of settlements, apparently to avoid angering his political allies.

More than 100,000 settlers and their backers protested plans by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, once their greatest champion, to evacuate settlements in a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

The Israeli settlement movement says getting tens of thousands of people onto the streets is the opening salvo in a campaign to convince the Israeli public not to abandon any settlements. CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger reports it also shows the kind of opposition Sharon will face if he tries to implement his plan to dismantle some settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

Sharon also faces opposition within his own government: two Cabinet ministers and about a dozen members of his Likud party attended the rally.

"Uprooting settlements rips apart the nation," read one sign held by demonstrators. "Sharon — resign, we don't want you any more," said another.

But during the demonstration in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, Sharon was 35 miles away in Jerusalem, telling foreign reporters that in a peace deal, Israel would not be able to retain all of its settlements.

Sharon was expected to present his plan for evacuating settlements to parliament later Monday in response to a request from opposition lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Israeli President Moshe Katsav invited Syrian leader Bashar Assad to come to Israel for peace talks Monday, a day after Israel's prime minister said that such talks could begin only after Syria dismantles the militant groups Israel says it controls.

Syria brushed off the offer, with one official calling it "evasive and problematic."

As Israel's ceremonial leader, Katsav has limited political influence. But his invitation came amid a growing debate among Israeli leaders about how to respond to recent indications that Syria, one of Israel's most intractable foes, is ready to resume peace talks.

Syria wants formal talks with U.S. mediation, reports Berger, but Israel is in no hurry because it does not want to return the strategic Golan Heights.

In his comments to the foreign press, Sharon also said Israel would be "very glad" to restart peace talks with Syria, if Syria first stops support for radical Palestinian and Lebanese groups and agrees to start the talks over from scratch.

This followed confirmation from Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that secret contacts with Syria had taken place several months ago, but they were broken off when news of the talks was leaked in Israel. Syria denied that there were secret contacts.

The pro-settlement demonstration was advanced to Sunday night by organizers who feared bad weather on the original date, a day later.

The demonstrators filled the square in front of the Tel Aviv municipality and surrounding streets to listen to ministers from Sharon's own Cabinet heap criticism on his newfound moderate views. Some threatened to leave the ruling coalition of he carries them out.

Housing Minister Effi Eitam of the pro-settler National Religious Party accused the prime minister of weakness. "In the battlefield there is no disengagement plan, you know that would be running away," he said.

"We won't dismantle settlements and we won't expel Jews," Eitam said to the cheers of the crowd. "We will not be a party to dismantling settlements."

Eitam warned that his party was considering the possibility of voting against the plan and pulling out of Sharon's coalition government.

Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon said police estimates put the crowd at 120,000 people.

The settlers and their supporters believe in their God-given right to live wherever they want within the biblical Land of Israel, which includes the West Bank. However, Palestinians say the settlements are an encroachment on land they claim for a future state.

"All of Zionism is based on the belief that we have a right to this land," Likud lawmaker and parliamentary speaker Reuven Rivlin told AP.

"I came to demonstrate for the land of Israel. I am against the dismantling of settlements, I am against the disengagement plan and I will vote against it in the Knesset (parliament)," Rivlin said.

Protester Micha Cohen, 35, said he had come to the demonstration with his two small children "because for us the struggle is for their future ... we see settlements as important places that should not be evacuated."

Many of the protesters were teenagers and high school children bused in by their schools and youth movements.

"Sharon can't ignore such a big group of people," said settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein. "There is no doubt that it will be much harder to dismantle settlements after this."

Sharon said Monday he remains committed to the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan which envisions a Palestinian state as the centerpiece of a peace deal by 2005. The prime minister reiterated that if it becomes clear in the coming months that the Palestinians are not living up to their obligations, he will take unilateral steps.

"I will of course bring the steps that the government decides on .... to the Knesset for approval, so that we can hold a serious and comprehensive debate on the subject," he said.

One of the stipulations of the "road map" is that Israel dismantle some of the settlements.