Labour refuses Sharon offer
"Sharon laid out his standard line, so Mitzna had no reason to go for it," a Labour spokeswoman said at the end of the first talks between the two since Mr Sharon's Likud party crushed centre-left Labour in January 28 elections.
"Labour will now lead from the opposition, as it intended to do," the spokeswoman said.
Right-wing Likud won 38 seats in the 120-member parliament, replacing centre-left Labour, which dropped from 26 seats to 19, as Israel's biggest party.
Political analysts attributed Labour's poor performance to a 28-month-old Palestinian uprising for statehood that has shattered interim peace deals the party pioneered and to Mr Mitzna's pre-election pledge not to join a Sharon-led coalition.
Mr Mitzna has been a fierce critic of Mr Sharon's tough security stance. He advocates dismantling Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Palestinians want for a state, and unconditionally resuming peace talks.
Mr Sharon, 74, is a champion of the settlements and refuses to negotiate until the violence, in which at least 1,811 Palestinians and 698 Israelis have been killed, is quelled.
But the prime minister has also endorsed the Middle East "vision" of US President George W Bush, which calls for reciprocal steps bringing security for Israel and statehood albeit geographically undefined for the Palestinians.
Sources in the prime minister's office said Mr Sharon had hoped this would be enough to coax Labour into the coalition.
"The prime minister (told Mr Mitzna) that a unity government, as broad a government as possible, was vital to the people of Israel, especially in the face of challenges on our doorstep and the hopes which the future holds in store for us," said a statement issued by Mr Sharon's office.
In his victory speech last week, Mr Sharon called for a broad coalition to deal with what he called terrorism and a possible US-led war on Iraq, a conflict that Israel fears could draw Iraqi missile attacks against it.
Once he receives an official nod from President Moshe Katzav this week, Mr Sharon will have up to 42 days to form a government.
The secularist Shinui party, which came in third with 15 parliament seats, has courted Likud but refuses to sit in government with two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties that account for 16 seats between them.
The bad blood between Mr Mitzna, 57, and Mr Sharon runs deep. As a senior officer in 1982, Mr Mitzna publicly attacked Mr Sharon's handling as defence minister of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
