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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 faction chair 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."
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