As Israel’s major politicians awaited word from Shimon Peres over whether he would leave the Labor Party for Ariel Sharon’s new Kadima faction, the elder statemen had warm words for the prime minister – and none for Labor. „The real change is not in the Labor Party. The real change is in the Likud Party,” Peres said Tuesday in Barcelona. „Mr. Sharon took a different direction for a Palestinian state. He wants to continue the peace process.” Meanwhile, senior politicians fired shots across the bow at one another, with new Kadima MK Dalia Itzik accusing Labor of having become „more Meretz than Meretz,” and Likud fchair Gideon Sa’ar calling Kadima „a political refugee camp.” Peres is poised to leave the Labor Party, his political home for 60 years, Labor officials said Tuesday, though Israel’s elder statesman has not made a formal announcement yet. „It looks like a package deal,” Labor’s secretary-general, Eitan Cabel, told Army Radio, saying it now appeared likely Peres would leave as well as Itzik. „We spoke about their remaining (in Labor) and not defecting to another party, but apparently things were already sealed, and the talks with us were nothing but a smokescreen.” Peres, who lost the race for Labor leader earlier this month, is widely expected to join forces with Sharon, and was to hold a news conference Wednesday. In Barcelona, Peres told Army Radio, „I have to reach a complete decision, and I am considering all the aspects I can … I expect that within the next two days I will end my deliberations and make an announcement.” Officials in Sharon’s new party, Kadima, also said Peres hasn’t made a final decision yet. A Sharon aide said earlier Tuesday that Peres had already made a decision, but later clarified he was not in a position to know. Peres was in Barcelona on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. His spokesman, Yoram Dori, declined comment when asked whether Peres has made a decision. „I’m not prepared to discuss it,” Dori said. Sharon may also offer Peres a future position as effective „special ambassador for peace affairs” in future negotiations with the Arabs. Were Sharon to win re-election, such an appointment would place Peres at the center of all regional and international contacts toward diplomatic progress toward peace with the Arabs, the report said. Sharon’s senior adviser Uri Shani is said to have made the offer to Peres in a meeting at the end of last week. Itzik: Labor now ‘more Meretz than Meretz’ Earlier Tuesday, outgoing Labor lawmaker Dalia Itzik announced she was joining Sharon’s new party. Itzik is close to Peres, and a senior Labor official said her departure signaled that her mentor Peres would do the same. In a crossfire of rhetoric, Itzik said Tuesday called new Labor leader Amir Peretz’ defeat of Peres in a party primary this month „a hostile takeover.” She said Peretz, also chairman of the Histadrut labor federation, would bring in his entire „apparatus” to „dictate” the direction of the party. „As I look at those joining the Labor Party, it’s entirely clear that the party has adopted a diplomatic policy platform that is more Meretz than Meretz – it is Rakah [the former Israeli Communist Party] – even left of Rakah.” Likud fchair MK Gideon Sa’ar, taking a shot at Kadima, said that the new party was a „political refugee camp.” „What originally looked like a split in the Likud, a kind of Likud II, is being colored in very clear colors, day by day.” A vote for Kadima, Sa’ar said, was in fact a vote for Labor. Sneh: Peres can’t find a ‘home’ in Kadima According to Sneh, Peres, widely rumored to be on the verge of declaring support for Sharon, would find that he did not belong in Kadima. „This party of Sharon’s cannot be a ‘home’ for a person who has the ideology of peace and of the Labor Party,” Sneh said. „Sharon is moving with cleverness, witth cunning, to set out a map in the West Bank, in Judea and Samaria, that is a recipe for the continuation of the conflict. Referring to Peres, Sneh concluded, „A man who has worked so hard for the sake of peace, and received a Nobel Prize for it, will not lend his fand to a plan that is a hoax.” „I very much hope he has not changed his world view.”
BPI-info
BPI-info
