Ariel Sharon, Israel’s Prime Minister, has decided to leave the Likud party he founded and force new elections, it was reported in Israeli media on Sunday night.
His decision which has been the subject of months of speculation will send a shockwave through Israeli politics and precipitate elections in March.
According to reports, Sharon left the party, which he founded in 1973, at 10pm on Sunday night local time and began informing his supporters.
Israel’s army radio quoted an associate of the prime minister as saying: ”Ariel Sharon’s decision is dramatic, unequivocal, to leave the Likud.” Sources at the prime minister’s office confirmed to Reuters that Sharon had decided to leave the party and call new elections.
Sharon wants to set up a centrist party which will lie in between Labour on the left and the Likud on the right in the political spectrum. Some commentators suggested the party will be called, Ha Tikvah, or the hope, which is also the title of Israel’s national anthem.
The party will be a vehicle for Sharon’s plan to change the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians. He hopes to withdraw from some settlements in the West Bank in order to guarantee Israel’s hold on Jerusalem and some of the larger blocks of settlements.
Sharon wants to take advantage of what he perceives as the weakness of the Palestinians and a favourable international climate to create new borders for Israel out of the West Bank territory it conquered in 1967.
Sharon believed that even if he was successful with Likud in next year’s elections he would be frustrated by rightwingers in his attempts to launch peace initiatives.
A Sharon associate told the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, on Sunday night the prime minister appeared tense because ”this is a dramatic and fateful decision fraught with danger. Sharon has already been prime minister. He wants to lead processes, and he understands that they won’t let him in the Likud, but he is torn because this is a sensitive decision from his perspective — he established the Likud.”
Ehud Yatom, one of the leaders of the Likud rebellion which forced Sharon to leave said on Sunday night: ”I regret Sharon’s decision to leave and would have preferred that he continue his struggle within Likud.” Sharon’s next step will be to visit the President, Moshe Katsav, to request the dissolution of the Knesset. Under Israeli law, any member of the Knesset can attempt to form a government in the next three weeks. But given its fragmented nature it is unlikely anyone will succeed in forming a new government. Once the three week period is over, the elections can occur after 90 days which means they will happen in March. Sharon’s step follows major changes in the opposition Labour party. Shimon Peres, the deputy prime minister and coalition ally of Sharon was ousted by Amir Peretz, a trade union leader. On Sunday the Labour party voted to leave the government making early elections inevitable.
Sharon is expected to take at least 13 Likud MPs with him but he may also attract a few supporters from Labour, such as Shimon Peres, the ousted Labour leader. Likud will also have to elect a new leader.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister would be the favourite in the absence of Sharon but he will face several other contenders. – Guardian Unlimited Â