Word: sharone
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...Tuesday's election is likely to produce a familiar outcome. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to trounce his Labor Party challenger Amram Mitznah, whose platform is based on seeking a to renew dialogue with the Palestinians over an Oslo-based peace agreement, and on a program to stimulate an economy mired in its worst recession in 50 years. Sharon is campaigning on the basis of continuity of his tough policies against the Palestinian uprising and postponing political negotiations until after it has been suppressed. In many ways, it's a rerun of the contest between Sharon and his predecessor...
...runaway victory in Israel is a relative term: Sharon's Likud Party is expected to win some 30 seats, as against Labor's 19. That will leave him forced to choose between a range of coalition options. A "National Unity" government comprising the opposite ideological poles of the dovish Labor Party and the hawkish Likud has traditionally been a temporary solution to immediate crises confronting the embattled Jewish State, and the endemic security crisis in the West Bank and Gaza has made it, increasingly, the default setting of Israeli politics. Sharon headed up a unity government until Labor bolted...
...Mitznah may face an internal revolt that could see Labor once again accepting the junior role in Sharon's government, but if not, he may have to look towards a narrower coalition of hard-line nationalist and religious parties. The wildcard in the current election, however, is the centrist Shinui party of Tommy Lapid, which has surged from the political margins on a platform of militant secularism. Lapid's peace policies are somewhat vague, but his challenge to the privileges of the ultra-Orthodox who are exempt from military service and study at state expense has proved so popular that...
...Whatever the configuration of the next coalition, it's a relative certainty that Tuesday's election will return Sharon to power - and lead to a continuation of current policies. And of the current deadlock. Suicide bombers continue to strike inside Israel and gunmen attack settlements; Israeli troops maintain their occupation of the West Bank and raid Gaza's population centers. Sharon says he has a peace plan but says he's waiting for an end to Palestinian violence and the effective ouster of Yasser Arafat before it can be implemented; the Palestinians maintain that little can change in their political...
...People [in the Israeli government] have been calling for expulsion for years, but the Israeli government, including [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon, realizes that it would not be acceptable under normal circumstances,” Lockman said. “But in middle of a war in Iraq, especially if they attack Israel, there would be panic and one can imagine all sorts of horrible scenarios. The public could countenance this, or the U.S. could turn a blind...