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Defeated Peres Calls for Early Elections
Following a humiliating defeat in the presidential election in the parliament Monday, Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres called for early elections on Tuesday.
The appeal echoed other top Labor party officials, such as Finance Minister Avraham Shochat and Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, who said earlier that if the ruling party cannot pass something like Peres for the presidency, it will not be able to pass other things.
The 77-year-old former prime minister, a leading Israeli dove concerning the Israeli-Arab peace process and a Nobel Peace Laureate for his peace efforts, was dealt with a severe blow in the Knesset (Parliament) Monday afternoon when he was defeated by unknown Likud candidate Moshe Katsav in the presidential race.
In an interview with Israel Radio, Peres said he was disappointed at the loss, however, he could not blame anyone for that. He said he would rather forget the past and look forward to the future.
He revealed that before the secret ballot, he had "guaranteed" 65 votes from the 120 legislators, excluding the 17-member Shas party. However, the voting result turned out to be a Katsav majority of 63-57. Peres said he still does not understand what happened behind the scenes.
However, the defeat was not his major reason for calling for dissolving the Knesset, he implied. The coming three months will determine the fate of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and an agreement should be reached with the Palestinians, he said.
To his surprise, Peres said, Prime Minister Ehud Barak displayed a great willingness to push forward the peace process in the summit talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David last month.
Thus, Barak should show the same courage to dissolve the Knesset because the current parliament lacks majority for an Israeli-Palestinian accord.
On Monday night, Peres withdrew his cabinet resignation letter to Barak, which was tendered on Sunday to meet legal requirements to compete for presidency. Thus he has regained his Regional Cooperation portfolio.
Several Labor party officials has suggested to appoint Peres foreign minister if incumbent David Levy makes good of his threats to leave the government because of the Camp David talks.
Commenting on the possibility, Peres said Tuesday he now has no interest in being foreign minister, the role he played in Yitzhak Rabin's cabinet from 1992 to 1995.
Peres said he will go on vacation Tuesday afternoon, so he can not attend the presidential inauguration ceremony due to take place at the Knesset Tuesday night. Nevertheless, he congratulated Katsav on his stunning victory.
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