Alliances Fray Further in Israel

The day after he agreed to submit to new elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday watched as his political party unraveled and as challengers for his office began lining up.

Men and women from across the ideological spectrum were scrambling for position amid the latest upheaval in Israeli politics, triggered first by the latest peace deal with the Palestinians and now by the move to early elections. On both the right and the left, parties were splintering and politicians were seeking fresh alliances.

Netanyahu’s former finance minister announced Tuesday that he is bolting from their right-wing Likud Party. Declaring that he had decided Netanyahu’s leadership spells disaster for the party and the country, Dan Meridor said he will run as a candidate for prime minister under a new centrist banner.

“The lie has become the norm,” Meridor said at a Tel Aviv news conference. “Truth has vanished. The country must be saved from Netanyahu’s dangerous, false appeals. . . . Neither the ministers nor the legislators believe the prime minister; neither do his enemies nor his friends, if such people remain.”

Such scathing sentiment has become de rigueur, but it takes on added bite coming from the normally soft-spoken Meridor, who enjoys a reputation among Israelis as a gentle man of enormous integrity.

Meridor is also one of the Likud “princes” whose fathers founded the ultranationalist Herut Party and who see themselves as the true standard-bearers of the ideological right. They view Netanyahu as a Johnny-come-lately who has compromised his ideals by hooking up with religious parties and special interest groups.

At least three other Likud leaders indicated that they will oppose or abandon Netanyahu, and more from other parties are expected to join the race in the coming days.

But the outgoing prime minister took to the airwaves Tuesday morning, scarcely hours after a showdown in parliament, in effect, ended his government, and said he is not worried. He chalked up the rush of rivals to petty personal ambitions and said he is confident that he will serve as Israeli prime minister for four more years.

“Those who contest me inside the Likud can do so, but I’m convinced that I’ll win,” Netanyahu told Israeli radio. “There is personal ambition motivated by all kinds of factors.”

Likud’s parliamentary chairman, Meir Sheetrit, also sought to allay alarm over the defections, saying the party will emerge more unified in the end. “Maybe Likud is crystallizing,” he said.

Meridor is negotiating with a popular former army chief of staff, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, to join his fledgling party and possibly head the ticket. Shahak has emerged in polls and newspaper columns as the favored candidate to challenge Netanyahu, even though his politics are largely unknown.

Shahak reportedly declined an invitation to join the leadership of the opposition Labor Party, leaning instead toward staking out his candidacy with a new, centrist political force.

Labor and the left are also suffering from fractures and disputes over how best to seize what they now see as the ideal opportunity to regain power.

Labor and Likud are Israel’s two historically largest political blocs, but both have been losing ground to smaller parties, special interest groups and one-issue factions.

With politics consuming national attention, Israel’s 2-month-old peace accord with the Palestinians is on hold.

Netanyahu’s office issued a statement Tuesday trying to clarify that peacemaking efforts are not frozen because of the election but because of the Palestinian refusal to meet new demands issued by the government.

The Palestinians say they are complying with the U.S.-brokered accord and warned Israel not to use its electoral season as an excuse to ignore its commitments.

“The present Israeli government is a legitimate government for all purposes, and it must carry out the agreements it has signed,” said Ahmed Tibi, a senior advisor to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. “The Palestinian Authority maintains that the American administration must act to force Israel to fulfill the agreements. Is there any hope of this actually happening? I am doubtful.”