The two elderly leaders were surprisingly grave as they sat aside one another at the Prime Minister's Bureau in Jerusalem. Peres refused to answer reporters' questions about his departure from the Labor Party he headed for most of the last 28 years.
"Any movement in the world would be blessed to have a man like Shimon, a man with such great vision," Sharon said, "and I am sure that together, we will yet do great things. This will be a true partnership... Shimon can fill any job with great success." Sharon said that in addition to whatever post Peres fills in the government, he will also continue to work in the area of developing the Negev and the Galilee.
Peres said, "I am joining the great and important partnership, and I'm doing it very consciously and out of a sense of obligation and privilege. I am sad to part with the past, and I am happy to join a new hope... In addition to the need to continue the peace process without stopping, we must not allow negative and destructive forces to move into the breaks in the process, but we must rather continue the momentum of our own initiative and outlook in this great and true partnership with the other side."
"I would not have forgiven myself," Peres said, "if I had not lent my hand to this process, at the helm of which stands today Arik Sharon, out of party excuses or excuses of what is convenient or inconvenient. The frameworks have become outdated, the situation has changed, and we have to relate to this situation."
Emanuel Shilo, Editor of the B'Sheva weekly newspaper, wrote in this week's edition that the recent acquisitions of Sharon's Kadima Party are no great find. He was dismissive of the party's Knesset candidates in general:
"Most of them [are one-term Likud MKs who] entered the previous Knesset in slots that had been reserved for various sectors, or were otherwise emplaced by a committee [and not a popular vote]. In primaries [in the Likud or Labor], they would have found themselves off the list altogether. Sharon is interested in them in order to receive their Knesset party campaign funding, and also as dirty-work jobbers who will know that they're dependent upon him. To this list were added Ehud Olmert, Sharon's son Omri, and other personal loyalists who decided to bind their futures with Sharon's. Then came [Chaim] Ramon, [Dalia] Itzik and Peres, the losers who lost steam in their Labor Party. This is a dream team? Not by a long shot."
At present, however, most of the Israeli electorate still seems impressed by Sharon's list. Recent polls give the Kadima Party between 30 and 37 seats in the next election, with Labor receiving roughly 25, and the Likud - between 10 and 13. The election is still almost four months away, however.