Peres fears assassination of Sharon over Gaza

OPPOSITION leader Shimon Peres yesterday said he feared Israeli extremists might try to assassinate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the target of growing far-right fury over a planned withdrawal from Gaza next year.

Mr Peres, the leader of the centre-left Labour party, said the divisive atmosphere recalled the climate when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an ultra-nationalist Jew opposed to his peace deals with the Palestinians.

“I am very fearful of the incitement, of the difficult things that are being said,” said Mr Peres.