Sharon Seeks Likud's Support Following Quit by Far-right Bloc

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 11, 2002

Sharon Seeks Likud's Support Following Quit by Far-right Bloc

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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will convene Likud ministers Monday to seek their support, in the wake of the decision to leave the government made Sunday by the National Union -- Yisrael Beiteinu.

The prime minister is expected to explain before the ministers his reasons for dropping the demand for seven days of quiet as a precondition to any negotiations with the Palestinians, and his pending decision for lifting the travel ban on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Sharon pledged Sunday night to keep his promise to permit Arafat to leave the West Bank city of Ramallah, in which the Palestinian leader has been confined for more than two months, in response to the arrest of the Palestinian assassins of former Israeli minister Rehavam Ze'evi. The National Union, Yisrael Beiteinu, announced Sunday that it was no longer willing to be partner "to the ongoing defeatism" and would soon authorize their leaders, cabinet ministers Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Alon, to resign from the government.

The bloc's move, undoubtedly, was aimed at protesting Sharon's decision to hold negotiations with the Palestinians under fire and to give up the demand for seven days of quiet before implementing a truce.

In a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Friday, Sharon informed Powell that he decided to drop the demand, but stressed that the change would not prevent Israel from responding with full force to Palestinian attacks targeted on Israelis.

With the bloc holding seven seats in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament), the outspoken quit would leave the coalition with 76 Knesset seats, still an absolute majority in the legislative body.

Senior officials in the government, however, indicated that the bloc's withdrawal may lead to early elections, which could be held no later than mid-2003, about six months before the scheduled October polling day.

One Likud minister said Sunday that "it's difficult to predict, but it looks like the beginning of the end." He said that if Sharon "fails to get a cease-fire, his political demise will be fast. If he succeeds, he could improve his standing in the public and in the Likud."

Another minister said that Sharon confounded all expectations and "turned left," because he understood that if he couldn't come up with a security-related accomplishment in the coming months, " he's finished."

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