Sharon survives major leadership challenge

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon survived a major challenge to his leadership of the ruling Likud Party yesterday, escaping with a narrow victory in a ballot that was widely seen as a referendum on his rule and the recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

The victory capped a dramatic comeback for Sharon, who has been vilified by Likud hard-liners for the withdrawal and who had been trailing in recent opinion polls as recently as Sunday. Sharon’s supporters said the victory meant the prime minister would push forward with his peace efforts.

“The argument over whether or not Sharon’s vision was the Likud’s vision is over with this vote,” Roni Bar-On, a Likud lawmaker, told Israel Radio.

Yesterday’s vote by the 3,000-member Likud central committee was ostensibly over a procedural issue: whether to hold elections for party leader in April, as scheduled, or move up the primary to November.

Sharon and his main rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the ballot amounted to a vote of confidence in the prime minister.

Netanyahu, who accused Sharon of abandoning Likud’s nationalist roots by carrying out the withdrawal, pushed for an early primary to capitalise on anger against the prime minister. Sharon opposed any change.

Likud members voted 1,433 to 1,329, or 52% to 48%, in favour of keeping the schedule intact, according to official results announced just after midnight. Turnout was 91%.

Netanyahu, a former prime minister, conceded defeat but said he would press forward with his campaign to oust Sharon. He said the close vote showed that the party remains bitterly divided, with many members opposed to Sharon’s concessions to the Palestinians.

Yesterday’s vote had threatened to reshape Israeli politics. Sharon confidants said that with a defeat, he likely would have quit Likud and competed in elections as the head of a new centrist party.

Such a run by Sharon, who is popular among the Israeli general public, would strengthen the political centre, push Likud to the political fringe, and likely improve chances of a Middle East peace deal.

Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a series of targets throughout the Gaza Strip early today, striking roads and buildings used by Palestinian militants, the army said. No injuries were reported.

The army said it attacked three access routes in northern Gaza leading to staging areas for rocket attacks into Israel. Palestinian officials said one missile destroyed a bridge near the town of Beit Hanoun.

In the southern town of Khan Younis, Israeli helicopters fired two missiles. Palestinian security officials said an office belonging to the ruling Fatah movement and a money-changing store were hit.

The army said the money changer was a front for the Hamas militant group. Israel arrested the store’s owner, Osama Bashiti, in July as he returned to Gaza from the United Arab Emirates, accusing him of funnelling hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Hamas leader in Gaza.

Israel launched an offensive against Palestinian militants over the weekend following a barrage of rocket attacks fired from Gaza at Israeli towns.

The offensive comes just two weeks after Israel completed its pullout from the Gaza Strip after a 38-year occupation. A series of air-strikes have killed four militants and destroyed suspected weapons facilities throughout Gaza during the operation.