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Israel: New Labor Leader May Strengthen Sharon
January 2, 2002
Summary
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer won the chairmanship of the Labor Party Dec. 26, beating Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg with nearly 90 percent of the vote. The victory will allow Ben-Eliezer to build support for a prime minister candidacy, and sets the stage for a fracture of the center-left party. It will also strengthen Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government by weakening Labor's ability to influence policy.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) Ben-Eliezer served in the army for 28 years, rising to the rank of brigadier general. He was communications minister under former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Ben-Eliezer is considered more hawkish than most members of the Labor Party on security issues. (More)
Photo Credit: Israeli Government
Analysis
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer Dec. 26 won the chairmanship of the Labor Party, Israel's largest center-left party, beating Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg with nearly 90 percent of the vote. His victory though does not ensure his candidacy for the prime minister's post. Another round of party elections must occur prior to Israel's general elections scheduled for November 2003.
Ben-Eliezer's new position will, however, give him time to expand his own base of support among the Labor Party's less dovish members, and may solidify fractures within the party and set the stage for the formation of a breakaway group. The defense minister's victory will also, in the short term, strengthen Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and weaken Labor's ability to influence government policy.
The Labor Party isn't likely to leave Sharon's coalition government while the war with the Palestinians still rages. Sharon's popularity ratings remain high, making challenges to his right-wing Likud Party in possible early general elections an unappealing prospect.
Labor suffered a serious blow with the humiliating defeat of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak by Sharon last January. The outbreak of the Palestinian intifada in September 2000 left the party little choice but to enter into Sharon's national unity government following the defeat rather than assume the position of an opposition party during a time of war.
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(Story Source)
(c) 2001 Stratfor, Inc.
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