Peretz threatens to topple Sharon government

[ikaotiki]

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By Corinne Heller

New Labor party chief Amir Peretz threatened on Sunday to bring down Ariel Sharon's coalition government next week unless the prime minister meets him quickly to agree on a date for an early election.

"If a meeting with Sharon does not take place at the beginning of the week, we may act to topple the government on Wednesday," said Peretz, surprise winner over elder statesman Shimon Peres of Labor's leadership election on Thursday.

Israel's parliament is expected to vote on several no-confidence motions on Wednesday. Support from Labor, Sharon's biggest coalition partners, is crucial if the government is to survive the votes.

An election must be held within 90 days if parliament passes a no-confidence vote.

Peretz's camp originally said he and Sharon would meet on Sunday. The prime minister's office offered a meeting for Thursday.

"Sharon acted irresponsibly when he delayed the meeting. I also know political tricks, and intend on keeping my cards close to my chest," Peretz told Israel's Channel Two television.

Peretz has said he would propose to Sharon an election in March or in May, advancing a vote not due until November 2006.

Sharon's spokesmen were not immediate available for comment.

In a major show of strength by Israel's left, tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to mark the 10th anniversary of the killing of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli Jew who opposed his peace talks with the Palestinians.

Peretz, in his first major public appearance since becoming Labor leader, told the crowd that Israel needed to leave West Bank land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East Ear and move toward a permanent peace agreement to carry on Rabin's legacy.

NEGLECT OF THE POOR

A pledge to leave Sharon's government over what Peretz has called its neglect of Israel's poor, was a centrepiece of the 53-year-old trade union leader's campaign to oust Peres, 82.

Peres took Labor into the government last year to support Sharon's plan to pull Israeli troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip, a withdrawal completed in September.

In the television interview, Peretz said centre-left Labor under his leadership would support any subsequent move by Sharon to hand over to the Palestinians territory in the occupied West Bank.

"I will not be part of (Sharon's) government, but ... if he wants to give back parts of Judea and Samaria, he will receive my support," Peretz said, using Israel's terms for the West Bank.

Sharon has vowed to hold on to large West Bank settlement blocs under a final peace deal creating a Palestinian state, raising a question mark over the future of smaller, isolated Israeli-held enclaves in the territory.

But the Israeli leader has said there could be no resumption of talks on Palestinian statehood until President Mahmoud Abbas disarmed militants.

Abbas, who declared a ceasefire along with Sharon in February, has said confronting the gunmen would lead to civil war. In any case, an Israeli election campaign would probably keep diplomacy with the Palestinians on hold.