Word: baraker
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...Barak is certainly leading the party in the coalition negotiations, but it's not clear whether he'll stick around for the unity government. Of course, even if he quits the Labor leadership and resigns as a member of the Knesset, there's still nothing stopping him accepting Sharon's offer to serve as minister of defense - a portfolio he currently occupies alongside being prime minister...
...Israeli papers have people close to Barak saying he wants to leave public life, but that Sharon's offer is tempting to him. But within the Labor party, a lot of other figures who have ambitions of being the next leader, or want some of the ministerial portfolios that would be allocated to the party in a unity government, think Barak should go. That sentiment was summed up by Haim Ramon, who said this week that "it was the man who was defeated in the election...
...Barak's people easily able to reconcile themselves to Sharon's profoundly different view of the peace process...
...ascribe to them is that they think things will be less disastrous if they're in a unity government to keep an eye on and restrain Sharon, which they'll be able to do to some extent if they have the defense and foreign minister portfolios - for which Barak and Shimon Peres are the front-runners right now. But to ascribe favorable motives to the Labor party is difficult right...
...West Bank and Gaza, and implement a number of smaller proposals - such as a safe-passage route between the two Palestinian territories - that have previously been agreed but never implemented. But it won't be anywhere near the scale of things envisaged at Camp David. But then, unlike Barak, Sharon won't be asking Arafat to make a statement declaring that the Palestinian conflict with Israel is finally resolved...