Ariel Sharon's Choice: Israel or Likud? - New York Times

Ariel Sharon's Choice: Israel or Likud? - New York TimesSeptember 28, 2005
Ariel Sharon's Choice: Israel or Likud?

The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, got a reprieve on Monday when he narrowly beat back Benjamin Netanyahu's stab at punishing him for withdrawing from Gaza by unseating him as leader of the right-wing Likud Party. In a narrow vote on the mundane question of whether to move up the election for party leader, holding it this November rather than in April, some 52 percent of Likud's Central Committee members opted for April, a victory for Mr. Sharon.

We hope that while Mr. Netanyahu is planning his next maneuver, Mr. Sharon will use this reprieve to continue the disengagement policy that he began with the successful Gaza pullout. The last thing he should do is allow pressure from the right within Likud to steer him away from the path that Israel has to pursue if it ever expects to make peace with the Palestinians.

Likud conventions are always lively - remember the one in 1986 when a fistfight broke out during a leadership contest among Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Mr. Sharon and David Levy? This one was no exception. On Sunday, a saboteur cut off the sound system just as Mr. Sharon was beginning to address the Central Committee. Mr. Netanyahu, for his part, was able to deliver his prepared speech free of interference.

But whatever the internal Likud machinations, the real issue facing Mr. Sharon is whether he will in the future be beholden to Israelis as a whole or to the narrow interests of the Likud Central Committee. The Gaza withdrawal may be complete, but there are 2.4 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank alongside nearly 250,000 Israeli settlers. The so-called road map for peace calls for Israel to work with elected Palestinian officials to create a plan for a negotiated Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. The responsibility of the Palestinians is to clamp down on terrorist activity against Israelis. If ever there was a time less suited to the rise of Mr. Netanyahu and the right wing of Likud, it is now.

We hope that Mr. Sharon chooses the Israeli people above his party. It would be better for him to abandon Likud for good than abandon real hope for peace in the Middle East.