Netanyahu plans to run against Sharon in elections

HARDLINER Benjamin Netanyahu is set to announce his intention next week to run against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in primary elections for the ruling Likud Party.

Michael Ratzon, a Likud lawmaker and Netanyahu supporter, yesterday said he would make a formal announcement then.

Mr Netanyahu, a former prime minister, would beat Mr Sharon 42% to 35%, according to a poll published yesterday in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.

The poll also showed that most Israelis were in favour of further withdrawals from the West Bank. But Mr Sharon remains more popular with the general public. In national elections, Mr Sharon, aligned with a new, centrist party, would beat Mr Netanyahu 24% to 16%, the daily newspaper said.

Some 54% of Israelis wanted more pullouts from the territory Palestinians want for a future state, while 42% did not.

Meanwhile, a government official said the population in Israel's West Bank settlements has grown by more than 12,000 in the past year. The figures drew criticism from Palestinian officials, who accuse Israel of undermining prospects for peace.

Israel this week completed the evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four isolated enclaves in the West Bank. About 9,000 people were affected.

Mr Sharon has repeatedly said the withdrawal would help consolidate Israel's control over large settlement blocs in the West Bank, where the vast majority of Jewish settlers live. Government figures show robust growth in these.

Gilad Heiman, a ministry spokesman, said the settler population in the West Bank grew to about 246,000 in June, an increase of 12,800, or 5%, over the previous year.

He said the increase stemmed from new births and an influx of new residents, though he could not provide a breakdown. Many families are attracted to the settlements because of their lower housing prices and proximity to the large cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Dozens of families uprooted from Gaza have been given temporary housing in the West Bank.

Yesterday, an Israeli woman died from burns after she set herself on fire last week to protest the Gaza withdrawal. Yelena Bosinova, 54, is the only Israeli to die during the evacuation.

The Maariv daily newspaper said the populations of two large ultra-Orthodox settlements near Jerusalem, Betar Illit and Kiryat Sefer, together grew by about 5,500 in the past year.

Palestinians claim all of the West Bank as part of a future independent state, with east Jerusalem as their capital. They say continued expansion of settlements will make it impossible to establish a viable state.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: "Settlements and peace are two parallels that won't meet."

Elsewhere, the militant group Hamas held a large rally in Gaza to celebrate the Israeli pullout. About 5,000 people took part, including men carrying anti-tank rockets, rifles and submachine guns. Hamas repeated calls to avenge an Israeli arrest raid that killed five Palestinians in the West Bank this week.

Meanwhile, officials said the Palestinian Authority is looking for new names for evacuated Jewish settlements, and is considering calling some of them after the late Palestinian leaders Yasser Arafat and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas who was killed by an Israeli missile in 2004.