Israeli Elections Likely to Pit Barak Against Sharon

Netanyahu, the pre-election favorite in several opinion polls, said he would run for prime minister only if the vote included the entire Knesset. But his supporters could not gain a mandate in the parliament for general elections without the support of the orthodox Shas Party, which opposes early balloting.

This failure leaves Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon as the likely candidates for the country's top political spot unless Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres, another former prime minister, decides to run.

In a television interview Monday night, Netanyahu said he was "waiting for a miracle" in which the Knesset could decide on early elections. Such a vote seemed highly unlikely but Netanyahu said, "There are always hopes."

Sounding confident, he declared that if he runs, "I can be Prime Minister on February 6." But, he said, "I don't just want to be [prime minister]. I want to do [things]."

Netanyahu said the anarchy and the paralysis in the parliament were such that, "It is impossible to do anything." No prime minister could function with a Knesset as divided as the present one, he said, which is why he insisted he would run "only in general elections."

Shas officials oppose a general election because they believe they could lose seats in parliament if votes are cast now.

Law prevents Israelis who are not Knesset members from running in snap elections such as the forthcoming one called after Barak's resignation. But the Knesset on Monday voted 63-46 with one abstention to amend that law and allow Netanyahu to run. Barak and his Labor faction voted for the bill that would allow Netanyahu to run in order to prove that they were not blocking Netanyahu.

Channel 2 TV said Monday that its poll showed Netanyahu would win 48 percent of the votes if he ran while Barak would get only 14, percent and Peres 25.

Sharon, who masterminded the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and was forced out of the Defense Ministry after the Lebanese Phalangists' massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Beirut, scares many Israelis. His margin in polls over Barak is smaller than Netanyahu's. If Sharon runs as the Likud nominee, he would get 40 percent of the vote, Peres would get 30 percent, and Barak would lag at 13 percent, according to the Channel 2 poll.

The Knesset's Law Committee decided that the election for Israeli prime minister, called because of the surprise resignation of Barak this month, would be set for Feb. 6. If general elections were added, Election Day would be March 6.

The Knesset must approve the date.