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Peres Announces Candidacy For PM Amid Fears Of Spilt In Peace Camp
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli elder statesman and Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres has officially announced he intends to run for prime minister, setting the stage for a three-way clash with Prime Minister Ehud Barak and ultranationalist Ariel Sharon.
"I have decided to be a candidate but evidently I could not be without the support of the Meretz party," he told Israeli public radio late Wednesday.
His announcement came after meeting the head of the left-wing Meretz party, Yossi Sarid, who said he backed the indefatigable 77-years-old Peres, currently minister of regional cooperation.
The announcement came despite warnings Peres could split Israel's peace vote ushering in Sharon, the burly ex-general reviled by the Palestinians for triggering the eleven weeks of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has left nearly 350 people dead.
Peres needs to win the support of at least 10 MPs to be eligible to run.
Sarid said his party - which quit Barak's government six months ago and has the required number of seats to back a candidate - would announce a decision on Peres' candidacy on Thursday.
The ruling Labor party has already chosen Barak as its candidate, and the deadline for candidates to register for the February 6th poll is midnight (2200 GMT) Thursday.
Barak, whose dramatic resignation 10 days ago forced the special election, had urged Peres, his predecessor as Labor party chief, not to stand and risk splitting the peace camp.
"We need to unite," said Barak, who quit to seek a new mandate and try to reach peace with the Palestinians after facing widespread criticism of his handling of 11 weeks of deadly violence in the region.
"I call on Shimon Peres to join me in this moment when we are leaving for an assault on peace and not to provoke unnecessary splits and divisions," Barak said, arguing that a bid by Peres would give the election to Likud party leader Sharon.
It is the first time Sharon, 72, is running for prime minister after a checkered military and political career.
He is reviled by the Palestinians for triggering the wave of unrest, with a controversial visit to a hotly contested Jerusalem shrine in late September, and for his role in the 1982 massacre of up to 2,000 Palestinian refugees after Israel's ill-fated invasion of Lebanon.
But latest opinion polls here show that Peres has a chance of winning and putting an end to his reputation as Israel's "eternal loser," in the latest political twist ahead of the February election for prime minister.
Last summer, parliament chose political unknown Moshe Katsav over Peres for the largely ceremonial post of president.
The race had been expected to be a head-to-head between Barak and ultranationalist Sharon, leader of the right-wing Likud party, after right-wing comeback hopeful Benjamin Netanyahu's plans of running were dashed when parliament decided against holding new legislative elections.
An opinion poll published Wednesday found that Peres was favored over Barak, almost 20 years his junior, and could narrowly beat Sharon.
The survey published in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper showed Peres would win 41% of the vote in any run-off against 39% for Sharon, while 20% were undecided.
The real gap is too close to call, as the poll's margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.
Peres, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in drafting the 1993 Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians, is a champion of the idea of a "New Middle East" and a hero to Israel's peace camp.
But his approval as candidate by the Meretz party is far from a certainty.
Meretz MP Zehava Gal-On said he and his colleagues were faced with a "great dilemma," with "most of the deputies genuinely hesitating" amid fears of splitting the peace camp in a poll presented by Barak as a referendum on peace.
And Israeli public television said Barak had met with all of the Meretz MPs in a bid to dissuade them from supporting Peres, arguing that it would be tantamount to sabotaging the peace process by letting in Sharon.
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