On Sunday, Sharon failed to secure a majority in the Cabinet for his Gaza plan, and postponed a vote until next week.
Signs of Sharon's growing political weakness have fueled talk about early elections. Sharon himself has threatened to reshape his coalition, including firing ministers, to create a Cabinet majority for the Gaza plan.
Attempting to stem a Likud rebellion, Sharon presented his revised Gaza plan at a closed-door meeting of party legislators yesterday. The proposal differs only slightly from the one rejected several weeks ago.
In the original plan, settlers and soldiers would have been removed from Gaza and four West Bank settlements at once, and settlement buildings would have been left intact. In the new plan, the withdrawal would take place in four stages, and most buildings in the settlements would be demolished.
Trying to reassure legislators that he will not permit Gaza to become a launching pad for Palestinian attacks, Sharon said the withdrawal could be stopped at any time.
"If developments on the ground are negative, there is the possibility of putting an end to it," an official present at the meeting quoted Sharon as saying.
He said the first phase -- dismantling three isolated Gaza settlements -- was unlikely to be completed before March 2005.
Blumenthal, a staunch opponent of the plan, castigated Sharon for trying to reverse the Likud referendum. "You are belittling us, scorning us, threatening us. Do you want to disengage from the Likud?" she said.
Sharon did not respond, but the Likud faction chief, Gideon Saar, quickly ended the meeting, participants said.
The withdrawal plan has been endorsed by President Bush and also won the backing of Egypt, which ruled Gaza before Israel captured it in the 1967 Mideast war.
Sharon refuses to coordinate a Gaza withdrawal with the Palestinians, but has agreed to accept Egypt as a go-between. Last week, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met with Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to work out security arrangements after an Israeli pullback.
