Early Israel election

TEL AVIV – Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the new leader of the leftist Labour party agreed at a meeting yesterday to hold early elections in late February or March.

An early ballot has been on the cards since Amir Peretz won a surprise victory in a Labour leadership battle last week and vowed to leave Sharon’s ruling coalition to force an election before it is due in November 2006. Peretz said after the short meeting in Tel Aviv that he would accept any date that Sharon chose in the period they had agreed.He hoped a date would be set by Monday, when parliament is due to start the motions of preparing for elections.”He (Sharon) also insisted that we must go to early elections as early as possible,” Peretz told reporters.Sharon’s officials said the prime minister had told Peretz it was irresponsible to call early elections, but that he would if there was no choice.Dates between Feb.26 and March 9 were proposed at the meeting that lasted barely 20 minutes.Sharon was quoted by Israeli newspapers as saying that snap elections would prevent a political freeze.”We must ensure that 2006 will not turn into a lost year with regard to the political process and to the effort to reach an agreement with the Palestinians,” Sharon told Israel’s biggest-selling Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.Israel’s political uncertainty has been an additional damper on hopes for renewed peacemaking with the Palestinians, strained by violence since the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip in September.- Nampa-ReutersPeretz said after the short meeting in Tel Aviv that he would accept any date that Sharon chose in the period they had agreed.He hoped a date would be set by Monday, when parliament is due to start the motions of preparing for elections.”He (Sharon) also insisted that we must go to early elections as early as possible,” Peretz told reporters.Sharon’s officials said the prime minister had told Peretz it was irresponsible to call early elections, but that he would if there was no choice.Dates between Feb.26 and March 9 were proposed at the meeting that lasted barely 20 minutes.Sharon was quoted by Israeli newspapers as saying that snap elections would prevent a political freeze.”We must ensure that 2006 will not turn into a lost year with regard to the political process and to the effort to reach an agreement with the Palestinians,” Sharon told Israel’s biggest-selling Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.Israel’s political uncertainty has been an additional damper on hopes for renewed peacemaking with the Palestinians, strained by violence since the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip in September.- Nampa-Reuters