Word: barak
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...election opinion polls were accurate. Ariel Sharon humiliated Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Israel's election, Tuesday, with Israeli television reporting that the hawkish Likud leader romped home by margin of 59.5 percent to 40.5 percent. But those figures hide the fact that a massive stay-at-home by those who had propelled Barak into the top job less than two years ago created the lowest turnout in Israeli history...
...line limelight from Netanyahu by asserting Israeli sovereignty over a site that is also claimed by Arafat. Yet Sharon also cast it as a move intended to show his faith that Jews and Muslims could live side by side. In the end, it touched off the violence that destroyed Barak's government and brought Sharon to the verge of power. Was that a motive as well? Sharon insists...
...Barak watched Sharon's makeover with incredulity. Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister settled into a chair in the conference room of the Tel Aviv television studio where his staff shot his election ads. As Sharon's campaign spot came on the air, the Prime Minister couldn't believe what he was seeing. Smiling Israelis of all walks of life, backed by the blue and white of the national flag, were intercut with a grandfatherly Sharon. Annoyed, Barak turned to his campaign manager, Tal Silberstein. "It's impossible that this guy shows himself with cows and wheat fields and playing...
...Israeli news show mocked Sharon's apple-pie image by juxtaposing his campaign slot with the remarkably similar structure and visuals of Madonna's American Pie video. But Barak's reaction was stronger. His campaign unleashed a series of spots that drilled home Sharon's role in Israel's 1982 Lebanon invasion. Barak's admen accused Sharon of digging Israeli soldiers into the mire of Lebanon, from which they didn't emerge until Barak pulled them out last summer after a costly occupation...
...setbacks didn't seriously dent Sharon's lead in the polls. For one thing, Israelis' attention was distracted by the intifadeh. Three more Israelis died in terrorist attacks last week, bringing the total to 48 in this intifadeh. Whether or not Israelis blame Sharon for the Lebanon debacle, Barak carries the can for the intifadeh deaths. Sharon aides expect that his advantage in the opinion polls will slim to as little as 5 points by election day next Tuesday. But by the standards of Israeli votes, that would be a comfortable...