http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6970362 JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sacked his main coalition partner on Wednesday after a humiliating parliamentary defeat that left him scrambling to avoid early elections and save his Gaza withdrawal plan.
In a twin political drama on the other side of Middle East divide, jailed West Bank leader Marwan Barghouthi decided to run in a Palestinian presidential election and Hamas militants vowed to boycott the Jan. 9 vote to choose Yasser Arafat's successor.
Sharon dismissed the Shinui party shortly after it defied him by voting against the 2005 state budget in a first reading in parliament, and aides said he would immediately approach the center-left Labour Party to prevent his government's collapse.
The parliamentary mutiny marked the sharpest threat to Sharon's grip on power since he was re-elected in January 2003 in a crushing victory driven by popular support for his tough handling of a Palestinian uprising.
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