OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 10 December 2002 — The party tipped to become the dominant force in Israeli politics after the January general election swung further to the right yesterday, as the army continued its operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon found himself under attack from right-wingers within his own party and faced diehard opposition to the very notion of any Palestinian state.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, also expressed no-confidence in Sharon’s declared peace intentions, saying in a Reuters interview on Sunday the Israeli leader wanted to escalate military operations against the Palestinians.

Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who failed to beat Sharon in party leadership elections two weeks ago, opposes the creation of a Palestinian state and supports the expulsion of Arafat.

Hard-liners who back the tough policies of Netanyahu got the upper hand in the selection of Likud candidates for Jan. 28 legislative elections, according to a list published yesterday.

The 2,940 members of Likud’s central committee voted Sunday night to draw up the definitive list of party members running for one of the 120 seats in Parliament, where the right-wing powerhouse is expected to double its number of MPs.

The latest polls predict that Likud will increase its presence from 19 to around 40 seats, while Labor, currently the largest political party in the Knesset, is expected to drop five or six seats from the 25 it currently holds.

While Sharon and Netanyahu took the top two places as of right on the list of candidates for the Jan. 28 poll, some of the prime minister’s staunchest supporters were bumped way down.

In other developments, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian who suffered from mental problems near Tulkarm and the Palestinian Authority said yesterday the PA had gone bankrupt and it may have to postpone elections slated for next month. The Palestinian, Basel Al-Qoa, 28, from the village of Beit Lid, was shot dead near the neighboring Jewish settlement of Einav.

Israeli troops also killed a Palestinian woman in the West Bank town of Nablus late yesterday. Rihan Al-Arda, 25, was driving in a car with her husband and mother when Israeli troops opened fire with automatic weapons, killing the woman and slightly wounding the others, they said.