Monday, November 21, 2005 19:16 IST
JNW HEADLINE NEWSPurveyor of 'National Responsibility'
By Stan GoodenoughNovember 21st, 2005
Frustrated by those in his Likud Party who oppose his efforts to continue dividing up the Land of Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has called for the dissolution of the current Knesset and announced his intention to form a new political party.
The news that Sharon had decided to bolt the party he helped form 32 years ago came in the early hours of Monday morning, triggering what was described locally as a “political earthquake.”
Aftershocks were felt well into the day amid a flurry of speculative reports about which of Sharon’s ministers would jump ship with the prime minister, who would stay behind, and who would run for and likely win the post of chairmanship of the Likud.
Sharon is expected to make his decision to leave the Likud and launch his own party final with an announcement to this effect at 7 pm Israel time Monday.
Earlier Monday, Sharon went to State President Moshe Katsav to ask him to dissolve the Knesset and call for early elections.
He then sent a letter to the acting Likud chairman announcing that he had left the party and would be starting his own.
Reportedly set to boast the name “National Responsibility,” Sharon hopes that as a new Knesset faction it would untie his hands, enabling him to implement additional steps in line with what advisers last week described as his firm belief that only he can draw Israel's final borders “because he knows the land and this is his historic mission.”
To do so, Sharon and his National Responsibility Party will need to either garner a majority of the votes when Israelis go to the polls, or, should his party come second, be asked, and succeed, in forming a governing coalition.
Although a date has not yet been agreed upon, elections are expected to be held next March.
According to Ha’aretz, Sharon's new party is expected to attract 12 to 14 Likud MKs, including ministers Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, Avraham Hirschon, Meir Sheetrit and Gideon Ezra.
While polls held prior to the announcement of his decision to leave the Likud suggested that he would do very well in the vote, no centrist party has succeeded in winning an election in Israel.
Meanwhile, with his departure, seven candidates appear ready to contest the chairmanship of the Likud, among them Knesset Member and former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Likud loyalist leader and former minister Uzi Landau, and the current minister of defense, Shaul Mofaz.
Netanyahu appears to be the most likely winner at this time.