At a meeting between Likud Knesset faction chairman MK Gidon Saar and his Labor party counterpart, MK Ephraim Sneh, a tentative agreement was set for making March 28 (Adar 28) the date for new parliamentary elections.
Saar said, however, that the final date will be announced only after the Likud consults with the other Knesset parties, as well as within its own divisive list of MKs.
Sneh said after the meeting that the March 28 date had in fact been selected.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is supposed to announce by Tuesday whether he will run for prime minister as head of a new party, leaving the race to head the Likud party wide open. Whoever succeeds Sharon as head of the Likud will become the Likud’s candidate for prime minister.
Front runner MK Binyamin Netanyahu said he expects Sharon to form his own party, because the Likud mainstream would not support further unilateral withdrawals from territories and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu served as prime minister from 1996-1999, and as finance minister in the Sharon government.
Other candidates for the top party post include MK Uzi Landau, a staunch opponent of Sharon’s disengagement policy, as well as Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, Education Minister Limor Livnat, and Moshe Feiglin, a Likud activist. Mofaz, Katz, and Livnat said they would run only if Sharon announces that he is leaving the party.
As expectations mount that Sharon is set to bolt the Likud, MK Uzi Landau has asked the chairman of the Likud central committee, Minister Tzachi HaNegbi, to temporarily fill the position as Likud head until primaries are held and a new leader is selected.
Landau said on Sunday morning, “If Sharon leaves the Likud, I’ll demand an emergency meeting of the central committee” in order to hold party primaries “within a few days.”
Statements made by Sharon at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, expressing his hopes to continue working with Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, have been interpreted by some to indicate Sharon’s preference for forming his own party, perhaps together with Peres. Peres, 82, was recently ousted as head of the Labor Party by upstart MK Amir Peretz, former head of the country’s largest labor union.
At what may be the government’s last cabinet session with Labor participation, Peres said that Israel’s national mission was to execute further withdrawals from Judea and Samaria. He said that Israel must be prepared to relocate and resettle more Jewish refugees from evacuated areas.
Saar said, however, that the final date will be announced only after the Likud consults with the other Knesset parties, as well as within its own divisive list of MKs.
Sneh said after the meeting that the March 28 date had in fact been selected.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is supposed to announce by Tuesday whether he will run for prime minister as head of a new party, leaving the race to head the Likud party wide open. Whoever succeeds Sharon as head of the Likud will become the Likud’s candidate for prime minister.
Front runner MK Binyamin Netanyahu said he expects Sharon to form his own party, because the Likud mainstream would not support further unilateral withdrawals from territories and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu served as prime minister from 1996-1999, and as finance minister in the Sharon government.
Other candidates for the top party post include MK Uzi Landau, a staunch opponent of Sharon’s disengagement policy, as well as Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, Education Minister Limor Livnat, and Moshe Feiglin, a Likud activist. Mofaz, Katz, and Livnat said they would run only if Sharon announces that he is leaving the party.
As expectations mount that Sharon is set to bolt the Likud, MK Uzi Landau has asked the chairman of the Likud central committee, Minister Tzachi HaNegbi, to temporarily fill the position as Likud head until primaries are held and a new leader is selected.
Landau said on Sunday morning, “If Sharon leaves the Likud, I’ll demand an emergency meeting of the central committee” in order to hold party primaries “within a few days.”
Statements made by Sharon at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, expressing his hopes to continue working with Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, have been interpreted by some to indicate Sharon’s preference for forming his own party, perhaps together with Peres. Peres, 82, was recently ousted as head of the Labor Party by upstart MK Amir Peretz, former head of the country’s largest labor union.
At what may be the government’s last cabinet session with Labor participation, Peres said that Israel’s national mission was to execute further withdrawals from Judea and Samaria. He said that Israel must be prepared to relocate and resettle more Jewish refugees from evacuated areas.