Bibi: Sharon plans to leave Likud

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By Ryan Jones
September 20, 2005

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is set to further divide the already fractious Israeli political scene by forming a new Knesset faction, charged leadership challenger Binyamin Netanyahu Monday.

Sharon returned to Israel Monday, one week ahead of a Likud Central Committee vote on advancing the party primaries from next April to this November.

Committee members have expressed their fury at the prime minister for trampling the party's core platform with his ?disengagement? from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria ? integral parts of the ancient and biblical Jewish homeland.

If Sharon loses the vote, and the primaries are moved up to November, Netanyahu expects Sharon and his backers to quit the Likud and form a new party, which Netanyahu warned would steal votes from the ruling faction in the next national election.

During a speech to supporters in northern Israel, Netanyahu said Sharon has already started to lay the groundwork for the new party, amid opinion polls showing he will be ousted as Likud chief.

?Several people have turned to me, informing me that he, Sharon, has offered them to join his new party and asked what I can offer them,? the former finance minister said.

On Tuesday, Sharon's right-hand man, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said he would not hesitate to leave the Likud and join a new party headed by his benefactor. Several other Likud ministers, including Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, are expected to follow his lead.

Meanwhile, The Jerusalem Post reported that a visibly angered Sharon insisted during a meeting with supporters Monday that he had no intention of quitting the Likud.

?I founded the Likud. I will not leave it. I will campaign and win,? he said.

Sharon reportedly declined to answer questions regarding what he would do if he in fact loses the vote.

Ever since the forced evacuation of Jews from their homes in Gaza last month and the political fallout that followed, local media has been rife with speculation that Sharon would forge a new party with left-wing politicians more in tune with his current policies.

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