OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 2 November — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday offered the post of foreign minister to his main rival in the Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu. The talks at Sharon’s sheep farm in the Negev desert ended with neither man speaking to the reporters waiting outside. Israeli media reports said no decision was reached and the two agreed to meet again tomorrow.
When Netanyahu was prime minister from 1996-99, he brought Sharon in as foreign minister for part of his tenure. It appeared Sharon would prefer to bring Netanyahu into the government, where he would be subject to Cabinet discipline, than allow him to offer up criticism from the outside.
A source in Netanyahu’s office said he would consider joining Sharon’s government but seeks a change in its economic policies to stimulate growth. “He asked Sharon, ‘Are you willing to accept my economic plan, and if so do you have a stable enough coalition to carry it out?’,” the source said. “The main threat to Israel is the economic situation.”
The source said Netanyahu’s economic program has included a reduction in taxes, additional investments in infrastructure and renewed efforts to privatize state-owned companies to pull Israel’s economy out of a worsening recession. There was no immediate word on Sharon’s response to Netanyahu’s economic plan.
Netanyahu, who has accused Sharon of not going far enough to quell a Palestinian uprising, would move a new Israeli government in the making even farther to the right. He would also present a sharp contrast to Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who resigned when the center-left Labour party pulled out of Sharon’s coalition government on Wednesday.
Sharon asked Netanyahu to join the government “on the basis of the guidelines of the current government and to work together on the challenges facing Israel,” the source said. The guidelines of the government were hammered out by Sharon and Labour when the prime minister took office in March 2001 and included a pledge not to build new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu, 53, popularly known as “Bibi”, has said he will challenge Sharon in the yet to be scheduled Likud leadership election, a goal that could stop him accepting the post. Sharon, riding high in opinion polls, has vowed to go on leading the country, suggesting he wants to avoid early elections and a challenge by Netanyahu for the Likud leadership.
Palestinians have already expressed alarm at Sharon’s offer of the defense portfolio to former army chief Shaul Mofaz, who has advocated expelling Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Netanyahu has also called for Arafat’s ouster and if they both join the government, Sharon would probably be caught between their hawkish views and US opposition to such a move.
Israeli media said Mofaz had yet to formally accept the defense portfolio. The appointment must also be approved by the government and then Parliament, probably over the next week.
A rightward lurch in Israel could hinder international efforts to coax it and the Palestinians into defusing violence as well as US attempts to get Arab support on Iraq.
But Danny Naveh, a Cabinet minister, voiced confidence a new government would respect US President George W. Bush’s desire for Israeli moderation as Washington prepares for possible war to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
