Tough Army man takes Israeli defence job

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has chosen a former Army chief known for harsh tactics against a Palestinian uprising to be defence minister.

Official sources say Sharon picked Shaul Mofaz to replace the Labour Party's Binyamin Ben-Eliezer after a broad government coalition with the left collapsed.

Mofaz will be a heavyweight in a narrower right-wing government Sharon is seeking to form after centre-left Labour ditched its alliance with his Likud party this week.

The coalition's demise was triggered by Labour's opposition to funding for Jewish settlers on Israeli-occupied land in the West Bank and Gaza where Palestinians want a state.

Sharon's political manoeuvring is expected to increase the clout of religious rightists opposed to compromise for peace with Palestinians as the prime minister reaches out to ultranationalist parties to keep Likud in power.

Israel's rightward lurch could hinder international efforts to coax both it and the Palestinians into reciprocal steps to defuse violence and help Israel's superpower patron, the United States, obtain Arab support for a campaign to disarm Iraq.

In the Gaza Strip, explosions shattered the home of a Palestinian Hamas militant whose brother is a senior officer in the Islamic group's military wing, killing at least three people and wounding three, hospital officials and witnesses said.

The cause of the blasts was not immediately known. Hamas has spearheaded suicide bombings that have killed scores of Israelis.

Mofaz, a lieutenant-general who completed a four-year term as chief of staff in July, was offered the defence portfolio by Sharon after Ben-Eliezer tendered his resignation along with other Labour ministers, including Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, on Wednesday.

Israeli media said the appointment must be approved by the Government and then parliament, a process likely to take place in the next week.

The dour Mofaz reshaped Israel's battle against the uprising into a controversial "war on terror". He advocated expelling Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and accused the Palestinian leadership of "being infected from head to toe with terror".

Palestinians and human rights groups say Mofaz committed war crimes during his tenure, including "assassinations" of dozens of Palestinian militants in operations that also killed dozens of civilians, and crippling blockades of Palestinian cities to shut down suicide bombers who slip into Israel for attacks.

London newspapers said the Scotland Yard security service was investigating Mofaz, who was recently in Britain, over war crimes allegations made by a British Muslim group, including the Army's destruction of part of the Jenin refugee camp in April.

Arafat said Mofaz' rise did not augur well for efforts to stop the bloodshed.

"Mofaz on one side, Ya'alon on the other and Sharon over them - what do you imagine will happen in the region?" Arafat said on Arabic satellite television al Jazeera.

Moshe Ya'alon, previously Mofaz' deputy, succeeded him as chief of staff and shares his readiness to use crushing military action against the Palestinian revolt.

Sharon, who apparently plans to keep the Foreign Ministry portfolio vacated by Peres for himself, will face the first major test to his slimmed-down government in a no-confidence vote the left-wing Meretz party has called for Monday.

Israel Radio said Sharon had begun contacts with the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party, whose seven seats in the 120-member parliament could restore his legislative majority.

Labour's defection from the Israeli Government ended an awkward 19-month partnership with the right forged as a common front against Palestinian violence.

Sharon has vowed to go on leading Israel, suggesting he wants to avoid early elections.

National elections must take place by next October.

The Government crisis was precipitated by Ben-Eliezer's demands to reallocate funds earmarked for Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza to Israel's poor and the elderly at a time of a serious economic downturn caused by the violence.

The fate of 145 settlements built on occupied land in the West Bank and Gaza is an issue at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has polarised Israelis.

The international community largely regards the settlements as illegal. Successive Israeli Governments have disputed this.

Labour had vowed to reject Israel's 2003 budget unless Sharon met demands to divert US$145 million ($299 million) reserved for settlers.

Labour made good on its threat but the budget passed anyway on Wednesday with votes of small right-wing opposition parties.

- REUTERS

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