A leadership meeting of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's Likud bloc broke down in chaos and shouts of anger Monday after Shamir called for a vote of confidence in his plan for Palestinian elections. Shamir stormed out of the session of the Likud Central Committee after getting into a shouting match with his hard-line party rival, Trade Minister Ariel Sharon, who said he would resign to protest Shamir's policies. Shamir later claimed in a radio interview that he had received a large show of support. The chaotic results left the already stalled Middle East peace process in even worse shape and raised doubts about the future of Shamir's fragile coalition Cabinet. Leaders of Likud's coalition partner, the center-left Labor party, met Monday night and decided not to make any moves that would likely break up the government as long as there is a chance for peace. But a senior Labor official said the party would demand a new Cabinet vote on the peace initiative and could leave the government unless it got backing. Some Labor members demanded that the party quit the coalition immediately because Israel's peace initiative has been compromised. ``I don't think we can continue to live in this marriage,'' Yossi Beilin, a top aide to Labor leader Shimon Peres, told The Associated Press. In Washington, President Bush said Sharon's resignation could suit U.S. policy if it led to progress in the stalled peace process. ``Mr. Shamir was a proponent of these talks, and if this clears the way for the talks to go forward, that would (be) in keeping with U.S. policy,'' Bush said at a White House news conference. Monday's meeting of Likud's Central Committee contained two surprises. The first was Sharon announcing his resignation. The second was the chaotic ending, which came after polls predicted a victory for the prime minister over his hard-line rivals. The meeting broke down when Shamir called for a vote of confidence at the end of a speech in which he essentially bent to the political demands of Sharon and his supporters. ``Do you accept my proposal? Let us vote,'' Shamir shouted. But Sharon, who later claimed Shamir had broken an agreement to delay the vote until the end of the debate, began shouting into a microphone for a vote on his own stands. Hundreds of delegates raised their hands amid the chaos, and both sides claimed they won. ``I received a decisive, massive majority,'' Shamir said moments after leaving the meeting of Likud's 3,085-member Central Committee in a circle of security guards. ``It was very clear that our proposals were accepted,'' Sharon argued later in a radio interview. Sharon convened the meeting as a challenge to Shamir's leadership and his peace plan, which envisages a limited Palestinian autonomy in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Likud hawks say the plan gives the Palestinians too many concessions. Opening the session, Sharon surprised even his close supporters with his offer to resign from the Cabinet. ``My decision to resign from the government is in order to continue the difficult struggle for our national goals ... endangered as a result of policies of the present government,'' he said. As he spoke, most delegates rose to their feet, and several hundred began chanting ``Arik, Arik'' _ Sharon's nickname. Shamir tried to seize the initiative with an emotional speech that embraced most of his rivals' stands: refusing to allow Arab residents of annexed east Jerusalem to vote in the proposed elections, and demanding an end to the 26-month Palestinian uprising before peace could be negotiated. ``We cannot imagine real political negotiations and autonomy as long as attacks and violence continue,'' Shamir said. Speaking later on army radio, Shamir indicated he would accept the trade minister's resignation, saying: ``It seems natural that Sharon resigns from a government whose policies he opposes in all its aspects.'' However, the prime minister and his chief supporters said the chaotic meeting would not lead to a split in the party. ``This is not the end of Likud but the end of those who wanted to break Likud down,'' said Environment Minister Ronnie Milo. But Moshe Zorenstein, a delegate, described the meeting as ``being at our own funeral.''
