Word: ariels
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...Bollings Air Force base in Washington must feel like an insulated bubble to the diplomats dispatched by both sides to search for a deal. Arch-hawk Ariel Sharon is somewhere between 11 and 18 percent ahead of prime minister Ehud Barak in the polls, which casts a very real shadow over the talks in Washington. After all, the very basis of Sharon's campaign is rejection of Barak's peacemaking efforts as naïve and dangerous, leaving the Palestinian negotiators with the realization that the chances of their Israeli counterparts' being able to deliver on any undertakings are slim...
Israelis don't vote for their leaders so much as against their opponents. And that makes an Ehud Barak-Ariel Sharon showdown for prime minister a tight contest, because both men have high negative ratings for their record in Israeli leadership. And with the likelihood of a much smaller turnout than in a full parliamentary election, the race may be too close to call despite Sharon's substantial lead in the polls...
...former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Bibi" has been preparing for a tilt at Barak since he was cleared of corruption charges in the fall. If the Knesset had been able to call general elections, as it was in the process of doing, Netanyahu could have challenged Likud leader Ariel Sharon for the right-wing spot to oppose Barak...
...Netanyahu, of course, will still be a major feature in the campaign, urging voters to support the man he'd have challenged for the Likud leadership, Ariel Sharon. But Barak - who may face (and will almost certainly defeat) a primary challenge from former prime minister Shimon Peres - must fancy his chances of reeling in Sharon's lead over the incumbent. After all, Sharon is Israel's most notorious hawk, and even though Israelis have little confidence in the peace process right now, it may be more difficult for Likud to rally a majority behind a man many Israelis fear will...
...vote - most importantly, the powerful ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which grew substantially at Likud's expense in the last election, but which may shed some of those gains in an election fought in the heat of a Palestinian uprising. And Netanyahu also has to dispense with the Likud incumbent, Ariel Sharon, who has no plans to step aside for a man who, while indisputably more popular and charismatic, is reviled even in important sections of his own party after leading it last year to its worst defeat at the polls in decades...