Big backing for Netanyahu but complications ahead

JERUSALEM - Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to the political stage as the right-wing hero who says he can beat Ehud Barak in an election set for February.

The man nicknamed "Bibi," trounced by Barak in elections last year, celebrated his comeback at an opposition Likud party meeting to plan procedures for a primary vote next week to pick a candidate for Prime Minister.



"You don't know how happy I am to be with you," a confident-looking Netanyahu told a cheering crowd. "I missed you."

The meeting marked the first time current Likud leader Ariel Sharon and Netanyahu, who wants to unseat him, have shared a stage since Barak quit on Sunday, forcing an election within 60 days.

Netanyahu, aged 51, who gave up his parliamentary seat and took a break from politics after his 1999 defeat, has accused Barak of bringing Israel to the brink of war.

Opinion polls put him far ahead of the Labour Party leader.

But even if he upsets Sharon in party primaries on December 18, Netanyahu will have to overcome a big technical problem.

Under Israeli law, only members of parliament can stand for Prime Minister in the type of special election forced by Barak's resignation. To challenge Barak, Netanyahu needs the Knesset to dissolve itself and call a parliamentary election.

"There have to be general elections - for the Knesset and for prime minister," Netanyahu said. "The reason is simple: in its current configuration, the Knesset is paralysed - you cannot rule with a Knesset like this," he said.

Sharon issued his own appeal, adding that he would run for Prime Minister and try to form a national unity government bringing in Netanyahu - and Barak - if he won.

Heading a minority government, Barak resigned in the face of an 11-week Palestinian uprising which underlined his failure to forge the peace he promised voters in the election campaign last year.



Analysts have said an agreement with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is Barak's only real chance to regain widespread support.

He will remain caretaker Prime Minister until after an election in 60 days, or 90 days if the Knesset dissolves.

But the violence that has shifted the Israeli electorate to the right continued when Israeli security forces yesterday killed two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Eunice, hospital sources and witnesses said.

The sources said Mahdi Adele, 25, a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces, died from shrapnel wounds, and an unidentified Palestinian man died from a bullet wound during clashes with Israeli soldiers. They said 25 more people had been wounded.

A Palestinian police official said dozens of members of the security forces joined residents of Khan Eunice to confront attempts by Israeli troops to invade the camp. The Israeli Army said Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli soldiers.

The deaths brought to 315 the number of people killed in the uprising.

- REUTERS

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