Word: likud
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...first, and perhaps most important, contest of the new election campaign will be the battle for the Likud party's nomination. Party leader Ariel Sharon believes he's the man for the job, and has been agitating in recent weeks for an even more aggressive Israeli response to the Palestinian uprising, including expanded use of selective assassinations and cutting off water and electricity supplies to Palestinian territories. But Sharon also has to contend with a high negative rating among many Israelis, made worse by his provocative visit to Jerusalem's Temple Mount two months ago, which set off the current...
...criminal." His 1,500 acres on the edge of the Negev Desert is one of the few private farms in Israel and a refuge from the controversy that has followed him through 55 years in the military and in politics. Sharon, 72, the leader of Israel's right-wing Likud Party, leans his portly frame against a metal pen, and two dozen startled Awassi sheep suddenly flee across the straw. Laughing, Sharon says, "Even the sheep are afraid...
...emergency coalition between left and right--something Israelis call a national-unity government. Barak wanted Sharon included to bolster his minority government. But Sharon set out to exact a high price, demanding a veto over peace-process issues. Barak's team wavered. Two weeks ago, Sharon's chief negotiator, Likud legislator Meir Sheetrit, demanded a decision. "Let's cut the bulls___," he remembers saying. "I want to do a deal on the veto item." Barak wasn't playing. The next day the Prime Minister moved to cut the ground out from under Sharon, appearing on television to deny that...
Sharon isn't just taking fire from the left. Inside his own party, he is stalked by ex-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Cleared of corruption charges, Netanyahu is the favorite to unseat Sharon as Likud leader and perhaps to topple Barak. Leading Barak in all the polls, Netanyahu would prefer to see the Prime Minister fall, which would prompt new elections. So Sharon needs to move fast: his ideal play would be to cut a deal with Barak that would lever him into power and keep Netanyahu out of the picture. Sharon would stick around just long enough to establish...
...Edging out further is unlikely to make him any more vulnerable. Right now he's safe in power because he's bought off [the ultra-Orthdox] Shas party for a month, and after that he faces the choice of either buying them off again, or else reviving negotiations with Likud to form a unity government. They agreement they're offering is not that hard for Barak to swallow, but of course once they're in they would have him over a barrel and could press for more concessions to their agenda...