Barak says he will resign, triggering elections for prime minister

JERUSALEM (AP) _ Israel's beleaguered Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday he would resign and call a special election within two months as ``a referendum on peace.'' Barak will remain in

Saturday, December 9th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

JERUSALEM (AP) _ Israel's beleaguered Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday he would resign and call a special election within two months as ``a referendum on peace.'' Barak will remain in office until then and made clear he would run for re-election.

The move appeared to be an effort to avoid running against his right-wing predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has surged far ahead of Barak in the polls but would be barred from running by Israeli election law that requires the prime minister to be a member of parliament.

An earlier plan, which called for general elections that were expected next spring, would have enabled to Netanyahu to run concurrently for parliament, resolving the problem.

Barak's popularity has plunged recently, as the ongoing fighting with the Palestinians has killed 309 people over the past 10 weeks.

``There are those who doubt the mandate I received from the citizens of Israel,'' Barak said in a televised address. ``Israel is in a state of emergency. ... Tomorrow I will advise the president of my resignation (and) in 60 days we will go to special elections for prime minister.''

Barak said he would support any proposal to change the electoral law to enable anyone to run _ but it seemed unlikely such reform could be passed in the short time left before the election.

It was also unclear whether Barak's resignation would supersede existing plans to hold broader balloting for parliament as well. An early election bill passed the first of three readings last month and the vote was expected by May.

Barak said he believed that most members of parliament did not truly want elections _ but a legislative vote could go ahead on the same day as the vote for prime minister if the parliament, the Knesset, decided to dissolve itself, he said.

Even if Barak wins re-election, without a change in the makeup of the Knesset he would probably find it just as difficult to govern and gain support for the peace process.

It has been speculated that Barak would make a major push to reach some sort of agreement with the Palestinians before an election, and polls suggest that without such progress his chances of re-election would be extremely slim.

Barak told reporters he would continue seeking ways to restart talks with the Palestinians but that he could not ``promise anything.''

Ahmed Qureia, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, suggested it would be difficult to reach an agreement under such a speedy timetable.

``I don't think there is any possibility to reach a peace agreement within this period,'' said Qureia. He said the coming 60 days appeared to be a ``time out'' from the peace process.

Barak trounced the Netanyahu 18 months ago running on a peace platform _ but parties supporting concessions to the Palestinians did not win a commanding majority in parliament and Barak's coalition was wobbly from the outset.

Right-wing and religious coalition partners abandoned Barak ahead of the Camp David summit last summer and have excoriated him ever since for offering too much to the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat rejected Barak's offers as inadequate.

Barak's popular support has plummeted since fighting broke out. The vast majority of the 309 people killed have been Palestinians _ but Israelis' sense of security has been badly battered as well, and many people have lost faith in the peace process.

A poll in the Maariv daily showed Netanyahu ahead of Barak by 45 to 27 percent. The poll of 1,300 Israelis, which had an error margin of 3.5 percentage points, showed current opposition Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon holding only a slim lead over Barak.

``I think it was a political trick,'' said Tommy Lapid, head of the secular-rights party Shinui. ``He wants (to run) against Ariel Sharon and not against Netanyahu.'' Danny Naveh, a Likud member close to Netanyahu, said he expected the prime minister to honor his commitment to change the law to enable Netanyahu to run. Netanyahu resigned from parliament after his defeat in the 1999 election.

But Naveh insisted that in any case any ``Likud leader will defeat the prime minister of Israel, and we will revert Israel to what we all hope will be a road of peace with security.''

In his TV address, Barak tried to remind Israelis of his government's achievements as ending a two-decade occupation of south Lebanon and restoring economic growth after several years of stagnation under Netanyahu.