Word: shimon
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Sharon and the Likud party. Not even Netanyahu represented the true spirit of the Likud, which is that they don't make deals under pressure. In recent years, Palestinians have become accustomed to a "whispering peace." Yossi Beilin has a secret meeting and whispers something in Arafat's ears; Shimon Peres comes for a midnight meeting and quietly says the words Arafat wants to hear. This is not going to happen with the Likud, and they're going to refuse to talk while violence is continuing. So the Palestinians are going to face problems of communication and understanding. And they...
...Sharon, of course, will face an uphill battle to cobble together a parliamentary majority, and no one will be surprised if Israelis are back at the polls within a year. And that election could see comebacks by everyone from Shimon Peres or Barak to Benjamin Netanyahu. Because there's no such thing as being politically dead in Israel - until three days before the election, polls were showing that three-time loser Peres had a better chance than Barak of beating Sharon, who enjoyed a huge lead despite being held responsible for two decades of Israeli misery in Lebanon...
Ehud Barak's apocalyptic campaign ads notwithstanding, the anticipated election victory of Ariel Sharon next Tuesday is unlikely to plunge the Middle East into war. The deadline for the Labor party to substitute the more popular Shimon Peres for the beleaguered prime minister passed Friday, leaving Barak to face the hawkish Likud leader, who currently enjoys a lead of up to 20 percent in the polls. Having escaped the shadow of Peres, Barak may narrow that gap somewhat by Tuesday, but not even the most optimistic gambler would bet on his beating Sharon on election day. Come Wednesday, all stakeholders...
...What about the option of stepping aside and letting the more favored Shimon Peres represent his Labor party against Sharon...
...painted as spoilsports in U.S. eyes. For Barak, keeping the talks going may be a frantic effort to persuade Israeli-Arab voters (about 20 percent of the electorate) to go to the polls and vote for him. It was the withdrawal of Israeli-Arab support that cost Shimon Peres the 1996 race against Benjamin Netanyahu, and they helped Barak trounce Netanyahu three years later. But the killing of some 13 Israeli-Arab youths by police during protests in support of the Palestinian intifada has embittered the community against Barak's government, and his chances of winning their support are minimal...