TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu assumed leadership of a shrunken Likud Party Tuesday. He returned to the bureau he had occupied six years ago and declared that is where the campaign to regain the premiership begins.
That goal he set himself is ambitious judging by the Israelis' mood. A public opinion poll published Tuesday showed that the incumbent Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would have roundly defeated Netanyahu if elections were held this week. At noon, a smiling and seemingly rested Sharon left the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem following a light cerebral stroke. That stroke did not set him back politically.
Support for Sharon increased since the previous poll published Friday.
The poll, published in Yediot Aharonot, showed that if elections were held now, Sharon's new party Kadima, would get 39 seats in the 120-member Knesset. That is one more seat compared with the poll published last Friday.
Labor would have emerged second biggest with 21 mandates and the Likud would be third with 13, the poll showed.
Netanyahu's victory in Monday's Likud primaries was decisive. Almost half the registered 130,000 party members voted and 44.4 percent of them supported the hawkish Netanyahu. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom emerged second with 33 percent, a right wing extremist Moshe Feiglin won 12.4 percent, and Agriculture Minister Israel Katz trailed behind with 8.7 percent.
Netanyahu has been following a hawkish stance. He opposed the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of four settlements in the northern West Bank. Shortly before the elections teamed up with former minister Uzi Landau, a hardline idealist.
The Likud was never so right wing, so extremist," noted the Haaretz newspaper's political correspondent Yossi Verter.
Netanyahu knows that in order to win the national elections he must gain the votes of Israelis who are in the center of the political map. That is where the majority lies. Therefore he might try to moderate his stance, observers predicted.
Netanyahu's spokesman, Ofir Akunis, Tuesday told United Press International that party leaders are to hold consultations and come up with their plans in the coming days.
"It is reasonable to expect that some of the issues will be clarified in this (centrist) way," a source close to Netanyahu predicted.
Haaretz' Verter was nevertheless skeptical. "Netanyahu can try and free himself of Feiglin's hug...but Feiglin will not let him run away. From this day on this extremist, eccentric... man (Feiglin) is the official number three in the Likud."
That explains why some members in Sharon's new party, Kadima, welcomed the results. Netanyahu would be an easier target to attack. It would be easier to show the differences between him and Sharon, said Kadima minister Meir Sheetrit.
Netanyahu's victory is likely to end at least some of the party infighting and make the Likud more attractive to people who were turned away by its combative, rowdy record. On the other hand, people who voted for Shalom, who supported the disengagement, are likely to shift their support to Kadima. Several people said last week they would vote Kadima if Netanyahu wins.
One of Netanyahu's first tasks will be to purge the party. "I intend to unify the forces, clean the party of criminal and negative elements that have joined it and try and turn it into an element that would influence and ensure the people and the state's future," he declared.
That is likely to mean ridding the party of Sharon's supporters but also trying to squeeze out Feiglin's group whose loyalty to the Likud is questioned.
Party officials maintained that in the last elections members of its Central Committee who belong to Feiglin's faction did not vote Likud. The ballot is secret but party officials noted that in some small West Bank settlements no one voted Likud, even though Likud Central Committee members lived there.
On the Palestinian side, President Mahmoud Abbas is reportedly seeking to postpone their elections to the Legislative Council. Elections are slated for January 25 and Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is apparently seeking Hamas' consent to postpone them, the Maan news agency reported.
Egyptian Chief of Intelligence Omar Suleiman is due in Ramallah Tuesday and Maan said Abbas is expected to discuss the matter with him. Egypt has played a key role in reaching several agreements among the Palestinian factions.
The agency quoted unnamed Palestinian sources as indicating that Abbas wants to postpone the elections "because of uncertainty within Fatah. He will attempt to enlist Egypt to help convince Hamas to approve the postponement. The sources said that Abbas will not postpone the election without Hamas approval," the report added.
Fatah leaders have been troubled by Hamas' victories in recent local elections, especially last Thursday's. Hamas beat Fatah in Jenin, Nablus, el Bireh, and did relatively well in Ramallah. It won earlier rounds in other towns.
Meanwhile Fatah failed to present an agreed list of candidates for the January elections. After fighting, including the use of arms, it presented two lists.
One, filed by the Fatah establishment, is led by Mohammad Ibrahim Mahmoud Abu Ali, also known as Abu Ali Yatta who is serving a life sentence in Israel. He has been in jail for 26 years. The effective leader is Ahmad Qureia, also known as Abu Ala, who last week resigned as prime minister in order to conform to the law that bars ministers from seeking reelection.
The rival list, tabled by younger Fatah members who grew up in the occupied territories, called al-Mustaqbal, is led by Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in Israel. Barghouti is followed by Mohammad Dahlan and Jibril Rajoub.
Barghouti who headed the Fatah Tanzim during the peak of the last intifada is very popular among all Fatah factions, but Israel is not about to release him despite is desire to help Fatah beat Hamas.
"The subject of freeing Barghouti is not on the agenda," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Tuesday at an army base near the Gaza Strip when asked by United Press International. "He is a terrorist with blood on his hands and that's why this subject is not on the agenda," he added.
Palestinian Chief Electoral Officer Ammar Dwaik said he has not heard of the initiative to postpone the elections. "We're working according to schedule towards the 25thof January," Dwaik told UPI.
