Word: likud
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...that the name "Operation Matter of Time" was a carefully chosen message. While Washington's need for allies on the eve of an Iraq operation may restrain Sharon for now, there's a countervailing pressure in the need to look tougher-on-Arafat than his arch-rival in the Likud Party primary race, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And once a U.S. invasion of Iraq gets underway and Palestinian attacks on Israelis continue, the chances of finding Arafat in Ramallah diminish exponentially...
Sending his soldiers back into Palestinian towns for a prolonged period is a risky strategy for Sharon. Though the move suits his party, the hawkish Likud, it is unpopular with his coalition partners from the centrist Labor Party. The day after Sharon's decision, Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer, a Labor member, told aides, "I haven't agreed to reconquer any land." Ben-Eliezer's aides say the Israeli troops will probably stay inside the Palestinian towns only a few weeks. Labor doesn't want to see Israel rebuild the system of military government it dismantled when it handed over...
...Ariel Sharon is expected at the White House next week, where President Bush will press him to start negotiating the terms of Palestinian statehood. Sharon says he's ready to offer what he considers a far-reaching plan. But the central committee of Sharon's own Likud Party - the majority of whose members want former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than Sharon as their candidate in the next election - is having none of it. The party committee looks set to adopt a resolution two weeks from now rejecting any Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. And Netanyahu...
...Still, the terms of Palestinian statehood are less likely to be determined at a Likud party conference than among the international players looking to resolve the conflict. And some Israeli commentators even suggested that the Likud vote could strengthen Sharon's hand by painting him as a moderate before the international community, and also deepening his appeal among Israeli voters by making Netanyahu look reckless. The hard-core Likud base alone, after all, is not enough to get anyone voted prime minister in the election that's scheduled for next year...
...Washington lost no time in emphasizing that the Likud vote has not changed the fact that Palestinian statehood remains the endpoint of the diplomatic process. And despite his setback, Sharon appears to have won a measure of sympathy from Bush for his insistence that negotiations over Palestinian statehood have to be preceded by moves to end violence and by reforms inside Arafat's administration. His diplomatic standing will have been further enhanced by his acceptance of Washington's quiet pressure to show restraint on invading Gaza in response to last week's bombing at Rishon Letzion...