Sharon paves way for elections

2005-11-21 12:51

Jerusalem - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, known as "The Bulldozer", will smash the mould of Israeli politics if he seeks re-election as the head of a new party, abandoning the right-wing Likud he helped found.

With his uneasy governing coalition teetering on the edge and Likud enmity threatening to severely curtail his movements, Sharon asked President Moshe Katsav on Monday to dissolve parliament, paving the way for early polls.

Ever the master tactician, the move has seen the 77-year-old former general wrest the initiative from Amir Peretz, who has been calling for early nationwide elections since becoming Labour party leader two weeks ago.

Sharon's widely expected decision to unveil a new centrist party more than 30 years after setting up Likud, has been trumpeted in the press as a political earthquake which could see the unveiling of controversial plans for pullbacks from the West Bank.

His plan comes after many of his traditional right-wing allies refused to forgive the erstwhile ardent champion of the settlers for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip last September, following a 38-year occupation.

Distinguished career

Rightwingers were certain to create further problems during the next parliament should he try to force more pullouts from the heartland of Biblical Israel, a move that would certainly seal Sharon's place in the history books.

In an interview published last Thursday, he said he wanted instant elections to "ensure that 2006 does not become a lost year with regard to the peace process and the effort to reach an arrangement with the Palestinians".

Dubbed "The Bulldozer" both for his style and physique, the burly premier has long courted controversy in an extraordinary career as a soldier and statesman, turning into a latter-day political chameleon.

Reputation restored

As defence minister, he masterminded the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and siege of Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organisation headquarters in Beirut.

The following year, he was forced out in disgrace after being held "indirectly responsible" for the massacres at the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon perpetrated by his Christian Phalangist allies.

Despite the commission's recommendation that Sharon was unfit for public office, he slowly rebuilt his reputation before becoming leader in 2000 of Likud, the party he helped develop, and rising to the pinnacle of government.

When he was elected prime minister in 2001, his incoming administration was seen as the most hawkish in the history of the Jewish state.

Branded a dictator and traitor by former allies, the former darling of Israel's right-wing ran roughshod over an avalanche of criticism over his Gaza pullout, turning his international and domestic reputation on its head.

- AFP