JERUSALEM, Nov. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The Israeli far-right National Religious Party (NRP) voted Monday night to quit the coalition in protest of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, localnewspaper Haaretz reported on its website.

    The DRP, one of three parties in the coalition, issued anultimatum two weeks ago, on the day the Knesset passed the plan to withdraw Israeli soldiers from the Gaza Strip and four settlements from northern West Bank, saying it would leave the government if Sharon did not decide by Tuesday to hold a referendum on the pullout plan.

    The NRP decided to quit after they were unable to reach anagreement with Sharon on a possible compromise solution. Sharon rejected all of the faction's three proposals: conducting a referendum on the pullout plan, holding elections and freezing disengagement proceedings for a month.

    Following the vote, Israel's hawkish Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he and three other ministers from Sharon'sright-wing Likud party would also quit if he refused to call a referendum within a fortnight. Enditem