Israel's former Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced that he intends to run for Prime Minister again, even though Israeli law prevents him from being a candidate because he is not a member of parliament. The country's current Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, unexpectedly announced he would be stepping down last night, and new elections for the post will be held within 60 days. Mr Netanyahu is pushing for dissolution of the parliament, which would allow him to enter the race. Leaders of the right-wing opposition Likud party are meeting today to consider such a move.
Ehud Barak today tendered his resignation to President Moshe Katsav. Mr Barak unexpectedly announced that he would be stepping down after 17 months in power in a televised address last night. Palestinian officials today warned they would not rush to sign a "flawed" peace agreement to boost Mr Barak in the upcoming poll, which he has predicted will be a "referendum for peace". The Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, said that the resignation and the resulting election would delay the implementation of outstanding Middle East peace deals. Mr Arafat, speaking in Riyadh, said that Mr Barak's resignation was a matter for the Israelis, but he attributed it to the intifada.
Other Palestinians called the decision a political manoeuvre. "He saw the inevitable and gave it a nudge. He did this to circumvent and pre-empt Netanyahu from running," said Hanan Ashrawi, a leading member of the Palestinian legislative council and former spokesman for the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. But she said that Palestinians would not buckle under Barak's political agenda or that of US President Bill Clinton, who is likely to pursue last ditch peacemaking efforts before he leaves office at the end of January.
Barak has been castigated by Palestinians and Israel's political establishment for his handling of eleven weeks of unbridled violence in the occupied territories and Israel. The conflict has undercut seven years of peace negotiations and sent nearly 320 people, mostly Palestinians, to their graves.
