Knesset member Shimon Peres, as expected, won yesterday's election in the Labor Party Central Committee, and will serve as the party's temporary leader for the next 12 months. Peres received 49% of the vote, MK Ephraim Sneh was supported by 28%, and Gilboa Regional Council head Danny Atar received 22%. Peres will take over from Labor MK Dalia Itzik as Opposition Leader, an official Knesset position assigned to the largest non-coalition party. Itzik served in the position for only a few weeks, following the resignation of Amram Mitzna as Labor Party chief early last month.
Peres has long been in favor of joining the government, although he said tonight that this option is currently not "on the table" as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not interested in his party doing so. He did call Shinui Party head Tommy Lapid and ask to meet with him, however. As part of the internal Labor party agreement regarding the temporary chairman position, Peres will be barred from competing next year for the position of permanent party chairman.
Shimon Peres, together with Yitzchak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, won the Nobel Peace Prize Award in 1994 for having designed the Oslo Accords. He met with PLO representatives in the early 1990s, while such meetings were illegal, in order to forge the agreement, and continues to believe in its efficacy. He was born 80 years ago in Poland, immigrated to what became Israel when he was 11, and has been a Knesset member since 1959. He has served in several ministerial capacities, including Immigrant Absorption, Transportation, Communications, Information, Defense, Finance, and Regional Cooperation, and served as Prime Minister from 1984-86 and for a half-year following Yitzchak Rabin's assassination.
Peres has long been in favor of joining the government, although he said tonight that this option is currently not "on the table" as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not interested in his party doing so. He did call Shinui Party head Tommy Lapid and ask to meet with him, however. As part of the internal Labor party agreement regarding the temporary chairman position, Peres will be barred from competing next year for the position of permanent party chairman.
Shimon Peres, together with Yitzchak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, won the Nobel Peace Prize Award in 1994 for having designed the Oslo Accords. He met with PLO representatives in the early 1990s, while such meetings were illegal, in order to forge the agreement, and continues to believe in its efficacy. He was born 80 years ago in Poland, immigrated to what became Israel when he was 11, and has been a Knesset member since 1959. He has served in several ministerial capacities, including Immigrant Absorption, Transportation, Communications, Information, Defense, Finance, and Regional Cooperation, and served as Prime Minister from 1984-86 and for a half-year following Yitzchak Rabin's assassination.