Israel's Peres may quit Labour for Sharon party
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-29 11:36

Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres may leave the Labour Party that ousted him as its leader and join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new centrist list, a spokesman for Peres said on Monday.

The defection of the 82-year-old Peres would represent a vote of confidence by the Nobel peace laureate in Sharon's oft-repeated pledge to make "painful concessions" for peace with the Palestinians.

Speaking to reporters in Barcelona, where he is visiting as a co-sponsor of an Israeli-Palestinian soccer match, Peres said he would announce his decision about his political future after he returned to Israel, without giving a specific time.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attends a Kadima party meeting in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem November 28, 2005. [Reuters]

"Upon my return I shall announce it," he said. "In my eyes, it's not a problem of parties but a problem of peace -- how to create a strong coalition for peace."

Branded a loser by political satirists for repeated defeats in national elections, Peres may nonetheless be a vote-getter for Sharon by attracting some of Labour's electorate in Israel's March 28 ballot.

Israeli media reports said Sharon had offered Peres the job of peace envoy if the prime minister's new Kadima party wins the general election.

The party's platform, announced on Monday, mirrors Sharon's support for a U.S.-backed peace "road map" that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

"They very much want him," Yoram Dori, a spokesman for Peres, said about officials in Kadima. But he said no specific job had been discussed and Peres was "considering what would be the best way to contribute to Israel in the coming years".

"THEY DON'T WANT ME IN LABOUR"

Peres was stunned at his defeat in a November 9 Labour leadership election by trade union chief Amir Peretz, whose decision to pull the party out of the cabinet over social welfare issues reshuffled the political deck in Israel.

"They don't want me in Labour," Peres was quoted as telling confidants. Labour officials have floated an offer to name him honorary party president, a prospect he rejected in the past.

But at a meeting of Labour legislators on Monday, Peretz called on Peres to "come and be part of the big change" the new leader said the party was going to carry out.

Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres speaks during a meeting with members of the World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem Sunday Nov 27, 2005. [AP]

Sharon and Peres, who have a combined age of 159, forged an alliance a year ago when Labour joined the Likud-led coalition to help the prime minister overcome rightist objections to removing Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon convened deputies of his new party for the first time in parliament and appealed for broad public support.

He made no reference to Peres, but denied reports he had ruled out his former Likud rival Benjamin Netanyahu, the predicted winner of a December 19 Likud leadership contest, as a potential coalition partner.

Faced with a revolt in Likud over the unilateral Gaza pullout completed in September, Sharon quit the party he co-founded to capitalise on public support for the withdrawal.

The former general has pledged to seek peace but has refused talks on statehood as charted by the road map until the Palestinians disarm militants under the same plan. Kadima adopted that view in its platform.

The road map also calls for a halt to Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

Opinion polls predict Kadima will bound past Labour and Likud in the coming election, ensuring Sharon, 77, will be back for a third term as prime minister, a post Peres has held twice.