Jerusalem ? Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday he wants to remove nearly all the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip without waiting for a peace deal, outlining his go-it-alone plan and prompting threats from far-right allies to bring down his government.

Sharon, for nearly three decades the most powerful patron of the settlement movement, told his Likud Party in a closed-door meeting Monday that the 17 settlements he wants removed are a “security burden” and a “source of continuous friction.”

The prime minister’s about-face was met by widespread skepticism, both from Palestinian leaders and Israeli politicians. Critics noted that Sharon’s government has failed at a presumably easier task, the dismantling of dozens of small settlement outposts, as required by a U.S.-backed peace plan.

Others said Sharon may be trying to deflect attention from his legal troubles. Sharon is to be questioned again by police Thursday in a widening corruption probe.

The Gaza settlements, home to about 7,500 Israelis, have been frequent targets of Palestinian militants during more than three years of violence. Infiltration attempts and rocket attacks come almost daily. An estimated 1.3 million Palestinians live in Gaza.

There was confusion about whether any settlements would remain in Gaza under Sharon’s plan.

Sharon has been preparing Israelis for what he said would be unilateral measures in the West Bank and Gaza, including redeploying Israeli troops, uprooting some settlements and imposing a boundary on the Palestinians.

Sharon has said he would go ahead once he concluded there was no point in negotiating with the Palestinians. Late Monday, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said the government was aiming for June or July to begin implementation.

The present government would likely collapse if Sharon ordered the removal of any settlements. Not only are most of the members of his own party opposed, so are two of his three coalition partners.

In parliament, several coalition lawmakers expressed their displeasure with Sharon by abstaining in a routine no-confidence vote brought by opposition parties. The vote was 42-41, just narrowly in Sharon’s favor. Though it would take an absolute majority of 61 to bring down the government, the slim majority embarrassed Sharon.