Three opinion surveys revealed that the standing for Mr Sharon’s Kadima party — meaning Forward — has grown in the days since his dramatic departure from the ruling Likud party, which he helped to found more than three decades ago. His commanding showing was mirrored by the sliding fortunes of Likud, which he left because of its repeated attempts to frustrate the withdrawal from Gaza.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the former Finance Minister, is expected to win the Likud leadership race but the polls predicted that it would pick up only one third of its present complement of 40 seats. Yesterday the first fruits of the Gaza withdrawal became tangible when the Palestinians assumed control of their border with Egypt, giving its 1.3 million inhabitants the opportunity to leave without interference from Israeli guards for the first time. Mr Sharon’s Likud fought tooth-and-nail to try to prevent the evacuation of Gaza’s 21 Jewish settlements and all its troops from the enclave despite huge support for the measure among Israel’s populace.

The backing for the pullout, carried out quicker and with much less violent resistance than feared, is reflected in Mr Sharon’s popularity and the backing for his party even though breakaway factions have historically fared dismally in Israeli politics. A poll in Maariv newspaper gave Mr Sharon’s party 34 seats in the 120-member Israeli parliament, four more than he had in a survey earlier in the week.

The Labour Party — rejuvenated under the new leadership of Amir Peretz — would win 26 seats. Likud, if headed by Mr Netanyahu, would get only 13. In another, published in Yedioth Ahronoth, Mr Sharon wins 33 seats, compared with Labour’s 26 and Likud’s 13.

A third poll, published in The Jerusalem Post, had Mr Sharon winning 32 seats, Labour between 25 and 26 seats, and Likud only 12 or 13 seats.

The Yedioth poll suggested that Mr Netanyahu would win the December 19 Likud leadership by a wide margin, with 39 per cent of the vote, compared with only 19 per cent for Shaul Mofaz, the Defence Minister.

The state of flux in Israeli politics was matched by that among the Palestinians, who will also hold a general election in January. Mahmoud al- Zahar, the Hamas leader, appeared on a platform with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, in an apparent effort to reap as much political capital as possible from the inauguration of the Rafah crossing to Egypt. Both men are keen to bathe in the warm glow generated by the opening of the border under Palestinian control for the first time since Israel occupied Gaza in 1967.

Posters that lent a carnival air to the proceedings captured the optimism of Gaza’s Palestinians who are surrounded by a fence that they believe is akin to a prison. “Rafah border: the beginning of hope”, proclaimed one, while another portrayed the crossing as “the Palestinian gateway to freedom”.

Cutting the ribbon that heralded the opening, Mr Abbas said: “Today we have the key to Gaza, Egypt and the whole world and no one will put obstacles in our way.”

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