'I have learned. I am ready'

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By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
August 30, 2005

In a move likely to propel Israel on the road to early elections, former prime minister and recently-resigned finance minister Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu Tuesday announced his candidacy to run for the chairmanship of the Likud Party and for the premiership of the country.

Speaking at a Tel Aviv press center before supporters and journalists ? and a few provocateurs ? Netanyahu scored Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for ?abandoning the principles of the Likud,? the party Sharon originally founded, and for having ?decided to go another way; the way of the left wing.?

Netanyahu said he believed he was able to ?unify the ranks, rehabilitate the ruins and lead the Likud to victory.?

?Therefore I am announcing my candidacy for the head of the party and the premiership,? Netanyahu declared.

With a nod to the many Israelis who voted for him in the past only to feel he had betrayed them by buckling under US pressure and giving most of Hebron to the PLO, Netanyahu said ?the test of every person and every leader is the ability to develop, to mature, and to learn from the mistakes of the past.

?I have learned the lessons. I am ready.?

Netanyahu was elected prime minister in 1996, beating Labor Party stand-in leader Shimon Peres months after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.

During his two years in office, he demanded ?reciprocity? from the Palestinian Authority and managed to keep security a top priority and stop the wave of terrorism that had rocked Israel in the months between the signing of the Oslo Accords and the killing of Rabin.

Netanyahu made his announcement the day after the Likud?s court ruled that the party?s central committee must vote on September 26 on bringing forward the party primaries.

Analysts say this vote will effectively start the process that will lead to Sharon?s removal from the party leadership.

The Likud court ruling and Netanyahu?s throwing his hat into the ring would likely also lead to the dissolution of the Knesset (Israel?s parliament) in late October or early November, leading to early elections.

If not brought forward, Israeli elections are only scheduled to take place in November 2006.

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