jerusalem | Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has proven over the years to be a master at finding a way to turn any loss in the Likud into a victory.
When the Likud central committee decided to oppose the formation of a Palestinian state, he got re-elected Likud leader by promising to form a Palestinian state. When he lost the Likud referendum on unilateral disengagement, he continued with his plan in a slightly different format.
In a stinging rebuke, Sharon’s party voted Wednesday, Aug. 18, to bar him from adding opposition parties to his government coalition in order to bolster his Gaza pullout plan, Israel Radio reported.
But Sharon had earlier sent a signal that he would ignore such a result, telling his party’s convention before the vote that he would not accept any disqualifications or boycotts.
The vote was about 60 percent for banning the moderate Labor Party, the radio reported. Sharon’s own proposal, to allow him to negotiate with all the Zionist parties, was narrowly voted down, Israel Radio said.
Sharon now he has three options. He could accept the results and continue with his minority coalition for the next few months, he could ignore the results and form a coalition with Labor, or he could announce early elections and run for re-election with unilateral disengagement as his platform.
Sharon would stay in power with any of the choices. But what he is seeking now is the kind of political stability that only a national unity government could provide.
Ideally, he wants to come back from his 10-day vacation that started Thursday, Aug. 19, to a new coalition that will allow him to pursue disengagement, advance Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s economic plan and sit comfortably in a stable government.
But after a month of coalition negotiations, it appears there is no coalition that would allow him to have all three, and even a coalition with two would be hard to come by.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.