Christian Message Boards: Sharon Throws In the Towel

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Posted by MAC (Member # 47) on :

Tuesday, November 05, 2002

JERUSALEM — In a surprise move, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday dissolved parliament and called for elections early next year after he failed to rebuild his crumbling government.

Sharon's challenger in upcoming primaries for leadership of the Likud party, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then announced he would serve as Sharon's foreign minister until the election.

The official Government Gazette said the election would be Jan. 28, according to the office of parliamentary spokesman Giora Pordes.

The dramatic developments throw Israel into a turbulent election campaign at a time when the nation is facing severe problems — the 2-year-old conflict with the Palestinians, a deepening economic crisis and the possibility of an Iraqi attack on Israel in the event of a U.S. strike against Saddam Hussein. [fie]

Sharon said he made the decision reluctantly, but that he had no choice because the alternative — succumbing to political blackmail by potential right-wing coalition partners — would have been worse. "Elections are the last thing this country needs right now," Sharon told a hastily called news conference at his office.

He chided his former allies in the moderate Labor Party and a far-right party, the National Union-Israel Beitenu, blaming them for the end of his 20-month-old government. Israel has had five prime ministers in the past seven years.

While there had been expectations that Sharon would be forced into early elections, the speed of the announcement took many by surprise. Many believed Sharon would spend more time trying to lure the National Union into his coalition.

The Jan. 28 elections leave less than three months for campaigning, and both Sharon and the main opposition party, Labor, face leadership primaries this month.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said he hopes Israelis will choose a different government. "What we are interested in right now is an Israeli government which is committed to the peace process, because the current government has failed in achieving peace and stability in the region," Abu Rdeneh said.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is sure to be a leading campaign issue. Sharon has sought to marginalize Arafat, but has refrained from expelling him from the Palestinian territories.

Netanyahu has called for driving Arafat into exile and dismantling the Palestinian Authority that Arafat has led for the past eight years.

Sharon's broad coalition broke apart last week, after Labor quit in a dispute over funding for Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, and the prime minister on Tuesday accused his former coalition partner of acting irresponsibly. Labor's departure was a "political caprice," Sharon said.

Labor leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer returned the blame, saying: "The government fell because you (Sharon) have contempt for the poor." Ben-Eliezer had demanded that settlement funding be cut by US$145 million, for the benefit of pensioners, students, and poorer Israelis in provincial towns.

Ben-Eliezer and other Labor leaders have suggested that they will try to focus the coming campaign on the hobbled economy instead of the conflict with the Palestinians, an issue where Likud's harder line is currently more popular.

Sharon also had harsh words for the National Union, saying it had come with a long list of demands, including that he change the basic government guidelines and that he reject outright a new U.S.-backed peace plan.

"I made it clear that I am not going to change the guidelines, or the commitments that I took upon myself in my talks with the White House, and I will not deviate from the budget," Sharon said.

The Israeli election campaign will be held amid fears that Iraq could attack Israel if the United States launched a war to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Asked how he felt about the possibility of Israelis going to the polls while wearing gas masks — a protection against non-conventional weapons Israel fears Saddam might use — Sharon said: "I don't think it's responsible to talk about that sort of thing."

He also said that his transition government will fight Palestinian militants without compromise. Sharon's announcement came a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber from the Islamic Jihad faction blew himself up in a shopping mall in the central town of Kfar Saba, also killing two Israelis and wounding 11.

An Islamic Jihad spokesman, Mohammed al-Hindi, said he believed his group had contributed to the breakup of the coalition. "This is another achievement of the uprising, and this is another failure of the occupation policy against the Palestinian people," he said.

After his negotiations with the National Union fell through, Sharon met with Israeli President Moshe Katsav and asked his agreement to dissolve parliament and call elections. Katsav then went on national television just before Sharon's press conference to say he had accepted Sharon's decision.

Polls suggest Sharon's Likud may grow somewhat stronger, but many observers are predicting the elections will be followed by yet another Likud-Labor coalition.

In the coming weeks, both Sharon's Likud and the Labor Party will choose candidates for prime minister.

Netanyahu said Tuesday that he had not changed his mind about challenging Sharon in a primary vote expected in the coming weeks, but at the same time would accept request that he serve as foreign minister in the transition government.

Netanyahu said he agreed to take the job because Israel is in a crisis. "We know that we are toughest security situation, we know that we are on the eve of war in Iraq," Netanyahu told a news conference.

Posted by MAC (Member # 47) on :

Can Benjamin Netanyahu make it a different!

Is he a stronger leader!

Would he completely be that leader that Israel needs for the poor people? And remove the majority of terrorists!

Comments please.

Posted by Kindgo (Member # 2) on :

[WOW]

Mac,I feel like I am talking to GWB..

As far as Benjamin Netanyahu, he is a strong leader, but I thought Sharon was going to be a strong leader, but maybe it will be GOD'S choice
who is leading Israel at this point in time.

I am nervous talking to the president [Laugh]