- Title: ISRAEL: Mofaz announces defection to Sharon's Kadima Party.
- Date: 11th December 2005
- Summary: MOFAZ LEAVING PODIUM
- Embargoed: 26th December 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVADS19N10KCINU4IBPZFSZETI9M
- Story Text: Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz joined Ariel Sharon's new Kadima Party on Sunday (December 11), sowing further disarray in a ruling rightist Likud that the prime minister abandoned in the run-up to a March general election.
"The events of these weeks have brought me to the painful conclusion that the Likud movement, as it appears today, despite the excellent and serious people in it, is distancing itself from me... (After) the big bang happened (Sharon quits the Likud) the traditional differentiation between left and right have changed... That is why I reached the conclusion there is no other way but to influence by the Kadima Party," Mofaz announced.
Mofaz is a popular figure among many Israelis for his tough handling of a 5-year-old Palestinian uprising, although opinion polls had predicted he would lose a Likud leadership race on December 19 to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sharon founded centrist Kadima after quitting Likud last month over a rebellion by hawkish legislators who condemned Israel's Gaza pullout as a surrender to Palestinian militants.
Mofaz cited a sense of solidarity as reason for his defection.
"A leadership is needed that can be trusted. Leadership that consolidate judgement and experience. The combination of the Prime Minister and myself that has proven itself co convincingly over the past few years, it is the right combination and worthy to the state of Israel, and it is the combination that will lead Israel over the next few years," Mofaz told reporters.
Mofaz said he would remain defence minister if Sharon wins re-election in the March 28 poll.
"In a talk I had this morning with the prime minister we concluded that I will continue to serve as the defence minister," he said.
Army Radio quoted the prime minister as saying he was "pleased with Mofaz's decision".
Surveys predict Likud finishing a distant third to Kadima and the centre-left Labour Party.
On Wednesday (December 8), Tzachi Hanegbi, the Likud's acting chairman and a pillar of its right wing, abandoned the party for Kadima, following in the footsteps of veteran statesman Shimon Peres, who quit Labour after it voted him out as its leader.
Since announcing he was bolting Likud, Sharon has reaffirmed his commitment to a U.S.-backed peace "road map" that charts reciprocal steps leading to the creation of a peaceful Palestinian state in territories Israel captured in a 1967 war.
But he has said there could be no progress towards peace until the Palestinian Authority fulfilled the road map's call to dismantle militant groups behind anti-Israeli violence. The Palestinians rule out such a crackdown as risking civil war.
Israel has failed to meet its own requirement of halting the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, fuelling Palestinian suspicions that Sharon plans to deny them large swathes of occupied land where they seek statehood. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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