Barak wins Labour leadership in Israel

Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister tossed out of office six years ago in a humiliating election defeat, won the leadership of the dovish Labour Party today in a dramatic political comeback.

Mr Barak now begins the race for the real prize – a return to the nation’s top job, which he held for less than two years. But he is expected to bide his time, first remaining in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s coalition government to burnish his leadership credentials.

Mr Barak, 65, a former commando and army chief of staff who is Israel’s most decorated soldier, faced off in yesterday’s race against political newcomer Ami Ayalon, a former navy commander and head of Israel’s internal security service. He won by a margin of six percentage points, party officials announced early today.

At a victory gathering early today at party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Mr Barak called for unity and pledged to restore Israel’s military might and deterrent power.

Mr Barak pledged a policy that “combines uncompromising security, protecting Israel’s solidarity and democracy, a determined pursuit of real peace, the reinforcement of the rule of law and healing Israeli society”.

Mr Barak has called on Mr Olmert to step down over an official report charging he badly mishandled Israel’s war last summer against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

However, Mr Barak is unlikely to immediately pull Labour out of its partnership in Mr Olmert’s governing coalition. He is expected instead to become defence minister, at least until the final version of the war report is published in August.

The current party leader, Defence Minister Amir Peretz, was trounced in the first round of party elections on May 28, meaning that he will leave his ministerial post soon. Mr Peretz, a former union leader with scant military experience, was also widely criticised for his performance during the war.

Labour has only 19 seats in Israel’s 120-seat legislature, and Mr Barak has promised to revive Labour’s flagging fortunes and lead it back to power. Labour led Israeli governments for the first three decades of the country’s existence, from 1948-1977, but hasn’t won a national election since 1999 – when Mr Barak beat Benjamin Netanyahu of the hard-line Likud.

Polls show Mr Netanyahu would win were elections held today, and Mr Barak claimed throughout the primary campaign that he alone could defeat the Likud leader. National elections are only scheduled for 2010, though Olmert’s post-war unpopularity could mean that his government will not last that long.

Avraham Diskin, a political expert at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said Mr Barak was now likely to keep Labour in the government at least until August as he tries to establish his position as a real contender for power – meaning that Mr Olmert’s government has now been granted given months of stability, if not longer.