Netanyahu declares candidacy for PM

JERUSALEM - It is official - Bibi's back.

Just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak formally resigned, right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu announced yesterday that he would seek a rematch with the man who trounced him in elections less than two years ago.

Promising to restore security after a 10-week-old Palestinian uprising, a confident-looking Netanyahu said it was time to come off the fence and take a stand. Opinion polls show he can beat Barak easily.

"An hour doesn't pass when a citizen doesn't come up to me and say, 'Come back and make the country what it used to be - a place where we could live'," he said, offering "cold peace" as the best Israel can achieve right now with Arabs.

Barak's resignation triggers a special election for the premiership within 60 days. Under Israeli law only members of Parliament can contest such a ballot. That would exclude Netanyahu; he gave up his seat, and the Likud leadership, to Ariel Sharon, after losing the 1999 election.

Announcing his comeback, the man widely known as Bibi called on the Knesset to pass legislation that would lead to a general election in tandem with the premiership ballot - a move that would allow him to run for office.

Accusing Barak's Government of "chronic weakness," Netanyahu, aged 51, said the Labour Party leader had brought Israel to the brink of war.

Only recently, Netanyahu - plagued by corruption scandals during his three-and-a-half years in power - had described the Prime Minister's job as "no bed of roses" and said he was not sure he wanted it again.

The scene was first set for a Netanyahu comeback when Israel's Attorney-General decided two months ago not to pursue corruption allegations against him.

He now intends to face Sharon in Likud prime ministerial primaries which could be held within days.

- REUTERS

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