Labor OKs Alliance With Sharon

The left-leaning Labor Party voted Tuesday to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s conservative government, an alliance that would strengthen his hand in removing Israeli settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip next year.

But the decision by Labor’s Central Committee, its policymaking body, was clouded by a judge’s belated injunction barring the gathering. It was unclear whether the injunction, sought by a committee member, would affect the vote that had already taken place. Labor officials were expected to seek court action today to cancel the injunction.

The party would join with Sharon’s right-wing Likud Party, which was left alone in a fragile minority government after the prime minister expelled his remaining coalition partner three weeks ago.

Sharon hopes to present the new government to the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, this week after Labor decides who will fill eight Cabinet positions it receives as part of the pact.

Final agreement also hinged on Sharon appointing Labor leader Shimon Peres as vice prime minister, a stand-in for the premier. Ehud Olmert, the industry minister, already holds that post and a law must be passed to add a second vice premier, a process that could take weeks, officials said.

It was not immediately clear whether that legislative action would delay formation of a coalition.

Sharon has said he needed Labor to ensure stability of his government in order to evacuate all 21 Gaza settlements and four others in the West Bank.

After the firing of the centrist Shinui Party, Sharon was left with Likud’s 40-member delegation in the 120-seat Knesset. That has left him vulnerable to being toppled. Labor controls 22 seats, and Sharon is negotiating with a small religious party to expand the coalition further.

The prime minister would stand on firmer ground in an alliance with Labor, which says it will stay in the government until the next scheduled election in 2006. Labor has joined ruling coalitions with Likud before, including a government headed by Sharon in 2001. Labor quit that coalition the following year over public spending for settlements, bringing about elections that ended with a solid Likud win.

Labor disagrees with Sharon on social and economic policies, but its leaders are eager to help him carry out the withdrawal, scheduled for next summer.

The Israeli political maneuvering came as Palestinians ended the official 40-day period of mourning for Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who died Nov. 11.

In a ceremony at Arafat’s battle-damaged former headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas promised to follow his legacy.

He said Arafat “will remain the beacon that will lead us in the struggle for the end of the Israeli occupation of our land occupied in 1967, where we will build our independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and by fairly solving the refugee problem, which is the heart of the Palestinian issue.”

Abbas, who briefly served as Palestinian Authority prime minister last year, is widely favored to win the Jan. 9 election for president of the authority. He has called for an end to armed resistance against Israel and is expected to pursue peace talks.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Israel for talks today with Israelis and Palestinians.

Blair is one of numerous foreign officials who have visited the region since Arafat’s death. He has called for new efforts to revive the peace process and is proposing an international conference in London to bolster Palestinian reform efforts.

In other developments, antitank missiles fired by Palestinian militants struck a synagogue in the northern Gaza Strip, causing damage but no injuries.

Special correspondent Maher Abukhater in Ramallah contributed to this report.